CATALYST Youth- "Why Worship?"- January 27, 2017

In our series "WHY?" we're asking why Christians do some of the things they do or why they believe what they believe. This week, the question we tackled is "WHY WORSHIP?" In particular, we explored why music and singing plays such an important role whenever Christians get together. Some might find this kind of thing odd. Aside from Kindergarten & when you sing the National anthem at a hockey game, most people never sing along with a large group of people, so why is it so important to Christians?
 
1. IT'S A WAY WE EXPRESS LOVE & THANKS TO GOD

Psalm 95:1-2 says “Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord. Let us give a loud shout to the Rock who saves us. Let us come to him and give him thanks. Let us praise him with music and song."

I mentioned last week that the word “worship” actually means to “GIVE WORTH TO GOD”. I also talked about how, the very first group song recorded in the Bible happened when the Israelites miraculously escaped from Egypt when the Red Sea parted in front of them! When they survived this experience—they were so full of love and thanks and joy that they wrote poetry and sang together to celebrate it!  Singing is one important way that we can express our love and thanks to God!

2. IT'S FUN

We listen to the radio, we have headphones in our ears all the time, we buy music, we actually PAY sometimes crazy prices to see bands perform, not because we’re being forced to do it, but because music adds a lot of enjoyment to life! While some people might not enjoy singing—almost everyone enjoys music! Music can actually enhance your experience, making it better! Just try watching your favourite movie with the musical score removed. It's not nearly as exciting or interesting! Getting together in church to read the lyrics out loud together just isn’t quite as enjoyable as when we sing them out! When you add music and singing into the mix—it can create a more powerful and emotional experience!

“David was celebrating with all his might in front of God. So was the whole community of Israel. All of them were singing songs. They were also playing harps, lyres, tambourines, cymbals and trumpets”. -1 Chronicles 13:8

3. IT TEACHES & INSPIRES US

Last week, some teens were singing the Periodic Table of Elements song. When you add music to something, it helps you learn and remember something a lot better! There’s a reason why companies spend thousands of dollars to create jingles—where they set their slogan and company name to music so that it bores its way into your brain and never leaves. One of the reasons why we sing songs, is that they remind us about what God says!

Colossians 3:16: “Let the message about Christ live among you like a rich treasure. Teach and correct one another wisely. Teach one another by singing psalms and hymns and songs from the Spirit. Sing to God with thanks in your hearts.”

The songs we sing in church are often full of direct quotes from the Bible—when we sing those songs or listen to worship music- we’re memorizing truths about God. When these important truths are committed to memory (or when we think about what the songs say) we can really be inspired and encouraged in life. 

Not too long ago, my mom was going through cancer treatments, and the song OCEANS was constantly in her head. The song talks about how we can trust God when we’re worried or afraid and going through scary situations—and that really helped remind her that God was with her and that she could depend on him to help her! In Acts 16:25, Paul and Silas were beaten up simply because they were telling people about Jesus! After they were beaten, they were thrown in prison! I would imagine they were pretty sore and scared--- and the Bible says that, while they were in their chains, they were praying and singing! 

When we sing or listen to worship songs, we’re remembering what God says and we can find that those songs can strengthen us and really help us through difficult times!

WHY DO PEOPLE RAISE THEIR HANDS IN CHURCH?
 
One of the symbols of worship tends to be a person raising their hands. It's something you see in many churches when people are worshiping.

Psalm 134:2 says, “Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the Lord”.

I kind of liken it to how you might be at a concert when people might hold a lighter or their phone way up high during a song. In that case, you’re showing the band that you love them! At church, when people raise their hands, it's one way to tell God that you love him!

WHY DO PEOPLE BOW/KNEEL IN CHURCH?

One way people choose to pray or worship God is to bow down. At Arlington Woods, we even have a place all along the front of the church where you can kneel and pray.

Psalm 95:6 says, “Come, let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker”.

One of the reasons why people might choose to bow, is that it’s a sign of humility- it’s a way to show that God is the person who calls the shots in your life- it’s saying that he’s Lord.

WHY DO PEOPLE DANCE IN CHURCH?

Especially in different cultures, you might see a lot of dancing in church! Going back to when David and Israel were celebrating before God, the Bible tells us in 2 Samuel 6:14 that David was a dancing machine, even though “it wasn’t proper” for the King to be doing something like that. David didn’t care! It was the way he was expressing his love and thanks to God!

WHY DO PEOPLE CLAP IN CHURCH?

Psalm 47:1, “Come, everyone! Clap your hands! Shout to God with joyful praise!”

In many churches you go to, you’ll see a lot of people clapping their hands along to the music! This is kind of a no-brainer. People clap as a way to participate in the music!

WHY DO PEOPLE STAND IN CHURCH?

Have you ever wondered why, throughout a service, the pastor might ask people to stand up or sit down?
 
Nehemiah 8:5 says that when the Prophet Ezra opened the Word of God to read it to the people, they all stood up, and when Jesus was teaching from the Bible in Luke 4:16, it says that he stood up to read from it!

Standing is a symbol of respect—and it’s a sign that you’re giving something (or someone) your attention. For example, you might stand and remove your hat when you sing the national anthem!
 
While God doesn’t really care if you’re standing or sitting (and some people CAN’T stand due to health issues or a disability), it’s one way that we can show God that he has our attention.
 
It's also a way we can stay actively involved in worship! Have you ever been to a concert where the entire crowd just sat in their seats the whole time watching the band perform. It’s usually a terrible experience because the crowd just doesn’t seem like they want to be there—and it can even sap energy from the band. But when people are standing and singing along, even going to the front of the stage, it shows that they’re awake, that they’re excited! In the same way, usually when you go to see your favourite team play and they score a goal, the entire crowd just naturally stands to their feet and cheers! Often when you do that--- you give the team a lot of energy and inspire them to do their best! It’s actually kind of like “worship” when we do that. We're expressing worth to the team.
 
Standing means that you’re involved! That you’re a part of it! And when we do that in church—it’s like we’re cheering God on! It’s showing him that we want to be there! It’s showing him how important he is to us!

WORSHIP IS MORE THAN MUSIC

While we’ve spent most of the time talking about how people can worship through music and singing—that’s not the only way you can express your love and thanks to God!
 
1 Corinthians 10:31 and Colossians 3:23 say that in EVERYTHING that we do, we can do it as worship to God. What that means is that when you’re at work and have to clean the public washroom (something I used to do)—you can do that as worship! You can do your very best as if God was the one asking you to do it! When you make a touch choice to do the right thing—that’s worship! When you obey your mom or dad—that’s a way you can worship- showing God that he’s important to you! When you tell the truth even though it’s really tempting to lie and cover something up- that’s a way that you can worship God! When your refuse to join in with a crowd who is bullying or making fun of somebody—that’s one way you can worship God! You can worship God by creating art or by volunteering in a way that helps or benefits other people!

While, when we think of worship, we might think about how we intentionally sing songs together in a church service or at CATALYST—anything you do can be a way for you to express to God that you love and value him!

HOME DISCUSSION

1. This Sunday (or even if you listen to worship music at home or in the car), encourage your teens to think about the words that are being sung. What are the messages of the songs? How could that song help encourage, inspire, or teach someone.

2. Give them a mission on Sunday or even at CATALYST next week. Tell them to pick (and remember) their favourite song out of the worship set that was being played. Ask them why it was their favourite. Was it because it had a great beat? Was it because of the lyrics?

3. This week we talked about how worship doesn't involve simply singing-- but we can do ANYTHING as worship to God (like doing our very best on the job even though it's not something we love doing). Ask them what are some ways they might worship God (not involving music or singing) during the week.

CATALYST YOUTH: "WHY CHURCH?"- Friday, January 13, 2017

Sorry folks! I forgot to post this last week! This week, we began a new series called "WHY"?" where we'll be exploring why Christians do the things they do or why they believe what they believe. If your teen would like to submit a question, they can do so anonymously by clicking here.


We kicked things off this Friday with our topic being "WHY CHURCH?" You might have friends who wonder why you head off to church on Sunday mornings instead of staying in your pajamas playing video games. You might have people wondering why you go to a church youth group on Friday nights when you could be binge-watching your favourite show on Netflix or working to make a few dollars. If someone were to ask you "Why do you go to church or to CATALYST youth?" what kind of answer would you give? "Just because?" "Because my parents drop me off and pick me up?" This week, we ran through a few reasons why church is important to Christians.

1. TRADITION 

Christians are a part of a church because it’s something they’ve done all through history. For over 2000 years, people who love and follow Jesus have been getting together on a regular basis! And in the Old Testament, people had been meeting together in tents or temples for another 1500 years! When you get together as a part of the church, when you come to CATALYST, you’re a part of something bigger than yourself…you’re a part of something that has been happening for THOUSANDS of years!

2. WORSHIP 

One of the main reasons why people have been a part of the church is to worship God together. To “worship” means to express worth, so we meet together to tell God that he’s worthwhile to us! We do that in a bunch of ways—but one of the more common ways we do that is by singing together! Exodus 15 is the first recorded time that a group of people sang to God together! The Israelites had just been rescued from years of slavery in Egypt and God had supernaturally intervened by parting the sea so they could escape from the army that was chasing them down. When they got to the other side they wrote poetry on the spot and started singing songs thanking God for how he had saved them! Ever since then, people who love and follow God have gotten together to express their love and thanks to him-- it's at the root of every song we sing.

Going to church or coming to CATALYST isn’t just an opportunity for you to TELL God how much he means to you, but JUST THE VERY ACT of getting together regularly is saying that God is important to you! You could be working, you could be doing homework, you could be playing video games or binge watching a show on Netflix, but instead you’ve set a time in your regular schedule to get together as the church or to come to CATALYST! That says something! It tells God that he’s important to you and worth your time! It’s showing him that he’s a top priority in your life!

On top of that, you being a part of a church or youth group also sends a message to other people! It shows them that your faith is important to you. In today’s culture—that kind of thing stands out! It might even lead people to ask you questions and give you an opportunity to share why you might do the things you do!

3. LEARNING

Another reason why Christians get together as the church is to learn together! In fact, it’s so important that Christians actually give their hard-earned money in an offering plate or online so that they can pay a pastor—someone they’ve chosen to lead them spiritually and help them learn more about who God is and what he wants for their lives!

When the very first Christians started meeting together, Acts 2:42 says that they, “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching”.  The apostles were Jesus’ disciples who were eye witnesses to the things he said and did. So they would tell the people about their experiences with Jesus, they would repeat the things that Jesus taught them about God and life and they even wrote those things down so that we could still read and learn from their experiences thousands of years later! Every time we get together as the church, learning is a part of it.

 4. COMMUNITY

When the first Christians started meeting together, it records the reasons why in Acts 2:42-47. In that passage, a lot of those words tell us that being a part of a church meant being a part of community! They would meet TOGETHER to worship, they would enjoy food and friendships, they would help other people together! In fact, there was such a great sense of community happening, that more and more people who coming to faith in Jesus because they wanted to be a part of it!

We get together as the church because community is important. We can become friends with people who share our values and beliefs. We can be encouraged and get good advice from people who really care about us and have our backs! It’s really important to have people in your life who care about the same things you care about and share the same values as you!

When we get together at CATALYST, there’s a reason why we play games, do fun events and enjoy food together! There’s a reason why we break out the dodgeballs and pummel each other—because all of those things help us form an awesome community!

It’s REALLY hard to follow God and live the way he wants you too when you’re surrounded by people who don’t share those same values or beliefs. Every day at school or  work, you experience temptation to do things that you might know aren’t right. Every day you might experience pressure to give in, to forget about what God says, and go your own way.

Hebrews 10:25 says, “Let us not give up meeting together. Some are in the habit of doing this. Instead, let us encourage one another with words of hope”.

This verse reminds us not to stop being a part of the church—to not let the busyness of life or our work schedules prevent us from being a part of this community, because it’s a place where we can be encouraged! It’s a place where we can grow in our faith and be spurred on to make the right decisions in life! It's a place where we can be that kind of friend to others! It’s a place where we can make really meaningful friendships!

Being a part of church community also means working together to do things that we all feel are important—showing love to others and being a benefit to other people! When we get together, we often serve together in ways that benefit others in our church or in our neighborhood, pointing them in the direction of a God who loves them!

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR HOME

1. Talk to your teen about why YOU are a part of the church. Ask them why they think it's important to you. Was it always this way? Ask them why they think you serve or volunteer in the ways that you do.

2. The Bible says in Hebrews 10:25 that we shouldn't give up meeting together as the church. Discuss some things that might get in the way of being a part of church or youth group. Some of those things might not be bad in themselves (like work, homework, meeting friends etc...) but when those things take priority, there's a danger that you might find yourself drifting away from God. Discuss some possible outcomes if you were to drop out of church community or not make it a priority in your life.

3. An important component of being a part of the church is serving together to be a help and benefit to others. In what ways do you serve? Are your teens regularly involved in some aspect of service? If not, discuss how they can use the skills and interests that God has wired into them to be involved in the work and mission of the church. Encourage them to talk to Pastor Ben (or the pastor of the church they attend on Sundays) about ways they could be involved.