Exodus 19:1-19; John 4:19-26; Hebrews 12:18-29
I would like all of us to think back to our lesson from Exodus. If you had been there at Mt. Sinai and seen the fire and the smoke billowing from the mountain, if you had felt the violent earthquake, if you had heard the trumpet grow louder and louder, and if you knew that if you touched the mountain, you would die instantly how would your worship be different this morning? If you had heard God speak to Moses, would you have a different view of God’s Word to us? Remember, The God of The Old Testament is the same God we worship today.
In our lesson from Exodus, we read that God told Moses to call all The Children of Israel to come before Him at Mt. Sinai because He wanted to remind them who He was, to give them His rules for living, and to remind them that they were accountable to Him. In verse 10 God said that before the people could appeared before Him, they were to consecrate themselves. Consecrate means to dedicate or set apart for sacred service. The Children of Israel had to properly prepare themselves before they could come before Almighty God. We worship the same God so we need to properly prepare ourselves before we can come before Almighty God. We also need to remember that the physical in The Bible always points to a spiritual truth. Sin separates us from our Holy God so Children of Israel washing their clothes means we must cleanse ourselves of sin before we can come before our Holy God. And the only way we can cleanse ourselves of sin is to confess our sins, seek forgiveness from Jesus, and to repent.
The God of The Old Testament is the same God we worship today and our God continually calls us to come to Him, listen to His Word, and to worship Him. Hebrews 12:25 is a warning “See to it that you do not refuse The Lord who speaks.”
While there are several similarities between us and The Children of Israel there is a sharp contrast of the time and place the people at Mt Sinai came before God and the way our lesson from Hebrews reminds us to come before God in worship. When the people at Mt Sinai witnessed the awesome power of God they were terrified. Even Moses was trembling with fear. But in our lesson from Hebrews, we are told not to come before God in fear but we are to come joyfully in reverence and awe. We do not come to the mountain of fear but we can come to the mountain of joy when we come in the name of Jesus.
The dictionary defines awe this way; amazement, astonishment, wonder, esteem, respect, dread, terror, fear. And we are amazed about the tremendous power of God to speak and create the universe. We are truly amazed at the power of the wind and waves. We never cease to be amazed when we think about the intricate way our bodies were made and the way our bodies operate. And reverently means respectfully, with humility, and in a worshipful manner.
In our lesson from Hebrews, we read a powerful reason why we should want to come before our creator God and to worship Him. We are to come before our creator God topraise Him and adore Him. In verse 25 The Children of Israel were warned not to refuse His word to them. Today God calls each of us to come before Him by reading and studying His words of instruction for us in The Bible. We are all called to get involved in Bible study. We are also to come before God to have our souls purified by our Savior Jesus Christ. We are to come and surrender our wills to God’s purpose for our lives. That is what coming before God is all about; that is worship.
When we come before God, we have not come to a place where we cannot approach God. Rather, verse 22 tells us “We have come to the heavenly Jerusalem the city of the living God.” You see, Jesus makes all the difference in the world.
Before Jesus came into the world God seemed distant, threatening, and unapproachable. But after Jesus came, we see that God welcomes us to come before Him through Jesus Christ. Hebrews 4:16 tells us that Jesus has given us the privilege and the authority to boldly come before God’s Throne of Grace when we come in the name of Jesus.
We must never forget that our God is everywhere all the time; we need to remember that we are always in the presence of Almighty God, the judge of all creation. Coming before our God to worship is to be a special time that is dedicated to focusing on our God and on our relationship with Him. Since our God is a Holy God and He is present all the time, everywhere God is present is holy ground. So, when we come before God we are on holy ground and we are to respond by figuratively taking off our shoes in “reverence and in awe.”
The church building, the pews, the communion table and the baptismal font are notsacred in of themselves but they have been dedicated to God and set apart for a sacred use in worshipping Almighty God. So, they are not just a piece of furniture, they are special and are to be treated with respect.
In Matthew 18:20 Jesus makes it perfectly clear and He promises that whenever two or more are gathered together in His name, He is there also. Right now, we are in the presence of Almighty God! We have the privilege of an audience with the Creator of the universe, The King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We have the privilege of entering His palace, kneeling at His throne, listening to His instruction. We have the privilege of bringing our needs and our wants to Him as well as our hurts and our sorrows and receiving His divine blessing. But we can only come in the name of Jesus our savior and when we have sanctified ourselves, and when we come in reverence and in awe. We also have the honor of offering our humble praiseto Him.
In our lesson from Hebrews, we are also reminded that when we come before Almighty God we are joined by “thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly” (v. 22). We come to “the church of the first-born”, which refers to Jesus Christ. And the church of Jesus Christ is comprised of all of the souls of those who accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and made Him the Lord of their life. Today as we celebrate the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, we are reminded that through the power of The Holy Spirit we can enjoy the fellowship of all the saints all over the world and all the saints throughout all ages. We come today to stand before Almighty God, to kneel at His throne, to listen to His instruction, to offer our humble adoration and praise, and to receive our Lord’s divine blessings.
Our scripture lessons remind us that we are to properly prepare ourselves for worship. We are to come with the single reason: … to stand before our Creator God. In our lesson from the Gospel according to John we read that “God is a spirit and we are to worship in spirit and truth.” And in Romans 12 we are told that true worship occurs when we offer our bodies as a living sacrifice. Everything we do and everything we say is to be in worship to Almighty God. True worship occurs when we realize we are in the presence of Almighty God and when we come to offer ourselves to Him. Reverence and awe are spontaneous when we realize we are in the presence of Almighty God and when we remember our God is a consuming fire.
True worship can never be defined by the number of guitars or drums we use, or the volume of the amplifier. The value of worship is not determined by whether it is contemporary or traditional. The effectiveness of the worship is not determined by how articulate the preacher is. True worship is dependent on a pure heart and a grateful spirit. And for our worship to be acceptable, it must be offered with reverence and awe.
Verses 28 and 29 contain a very sobering warning. “God is a consuming fire.” This reminds us that all worship is not acceptable. Remember Cain’s sacrifice was not acceptable. Cain was trying to impress God rather than honoring Him. In the Book of Amos, God says, “I hate, I despise your festivals and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies” (Amos 5:21). God said this because their hearts were not right. They were indifferent to the social injustices around them. In Jeremiah 6:20 God said, “Your burnt offerings are not acceptable nor are your sacrifices pleasing to me” because these people simply went through the ritual of worship. In contrast in Psalm 51:17 we read, “the sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken and contrite heart.”
Sadly, today many people come to church to be entertained so they will feel good. Sadly, other people complain they do not get much out of worship. They complain if the choir is not in tune or the sermon is too long. Wrongly many people think of the church service as a production and when the service does not compare with Hollywood, they are disappointed. Although in one sense the worship service can be compared to a theatrical performance, but that comparison is only valid when we remember that God is the audience, we as worshipers are the actors, and the pastor and the worship team are the prompters.
Verse 28 told us why we should be thankful. “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful”. We should be thankful for our salvation. We should be thankful for God’s Word. We should be thankful that God invites us to come to Him in prayer, hears our prayers, and answers our prayers. We should be thankful that God loves us, and that He wants to be a part of our daily lives, we should be thankful that God provides for us and protects us. We should be thankful that our God is for us, our God is with us, and that our God is in us. We should be thankful for our eternal inheritance in God’s Kingdom.
Verse 29 told us that “God is an all-consuming fire.” This reminds us that we cannot confine God nor can we control God or force God to do what we want Him to do through prayer or fasting. We should not be afraid to come before God like Moses and The Children of Israel were at Mt Sinai but rather, we should remember our God is a God of love; merciful, compassionate, and forgiving when we come to Him in repentance and in reverence and in awe.
Our God is not only all powerful our God is also all knowing and our God is present everywhere all the time. That means we are always in the presence of our creator God. That means God knows all of our thoughts and all of our motives for prayer and for worship. That should cause us to think; are my thoughts, my words, and my action pleasing Almighty God or are my thoughts, my words, and my action pleasing to Satan
We need to remember our God is present everywhere all the time, our God is all powerful, and He knows all of our thoughts, all our words, and all of our actions. Therefore, the challenge for us is to be consciously aware that that we are always in the presence of Almighty God. Therefore, we should use every second of every day to continually thank God for what He is doing for us and to praise Him for who He is. We have the opportunity and the responsibility to worship Him in reverence and awe in all that we think, say, and do. We all need to think back over the way we have spent our time today. Have we invested our time thanking, praising, and worshipping our Lord or have we waisted our time on worldly thoughts and actions. AMEN