WORSHIP IS . . .

Sermon Notes, February 17, 2019

Rev. Garry McGlinchy

Pastor Garry’s sermon this week was titled “Worship Is. . . “  It was based on Genesis 12:1-8 and Exodus 40:34-38.  When we worship, joy should be coming out of us. 

We will look at what worship was in the past, and what it is today.  Look through scripture, starting with Abraham.  Whenever anyone experienced God, they built an altar and sacrificed an animal. This was worship, from Abraham to Ezra.   Moses built a portable church; he called it the Tent of Meeting. God was with them in the form of a cloud, showing them where and when to go.   Whenever they stopped, they put up the Tent of Meeting and that’s where they worshiped. The priests offered sacrifices there. 

Fast forward through time.  We have David wanting to build a temple, but God said no.  His son, Solomon, did build it, lavishly.  It stood for more than three centuries, until the Babylonians came in 586 B.C. and destroyed it completely, sending the Jewish nation out into exile  After their return to Israel, the first thing the Israelites did was build a temple.  It was not as lavish as the one Solomon had built.  Later, in Jesus’ time, Herod had it renovated.  In 70 A.D. the Romans came and destroyed that temple, except for the foundation and part of the wall.  To this day, people come to the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem to pray, stuffing papers with their prayers on them into the cracks of that wall.

The form of worship has changed over time, but the heart and center of worship has not.  For the ancient Israelites, listening to God’s Word, along with prayer and praise, and daily sacrifices was the very essence of worship. It brought about the adoration of the Creator.  The promises that God made to Abraham were repeated several times.  The Israelites weren’t perfect, however.  They disobeyed, and had to be punished. They were Exiled, taken out of their own land (God put them in a Time Out).  The ancient Israelites were known not only for their worship at the temple, the Sabbath, and their festivals, but they also worshiped in their homes—several times a day

Daily worship was for Individuals, the home, and the entire nation.  Worship for the God-fearing Jew was at the center of everything.  For the individual, Deuteronomy 6, verses 4-6 and 8, have instructions on ways to remind the people of God’s grace and demands.  The scriptures above are to remind us that God was IT.  We are to worship Him with all of our being—100%.  Personal prayer, daily reading of the scriptures was not only for the individual.  It was to be part of the family, as well. 

Many customs were related to worship. Deuteronomy 6:7 says to impress God’s commands on your children, and talk about them when you sit at home, walk along the road, or lie down at night.  Verbal reminders of the Law were only part of it.  They wrote scriptures and put them in a box called a mezuzah and attached them to the doorposts and gateposts to their houses.  This was to remind the family of God’s blessing, His grace, His love and forgiveness.  It was right there as you walk into your house; also on the door frame of every door in the house and on the gates. Every garment had tassels at the corners to remind the wearer to obey God’s Law.

For the nation’s worship, three times a year all adult men went to the temple to celebrate the national festivals.  Passover, held in April, The Feast of Weeks in May, and the Feast of Booths held in October.  If possible, the whole family would accompany the men, but if they lived a long way from Jerusalem they would only go up for one of the festivals.  There were choirs, and the priests would offer hundreds, even thousands of sacrifices.  There was joy at these festivals.  They celebrated their deliverance from Egypt at Passover, eating roasted lamb and specially prepared herbs with family.  At the Feast of Booths, they built shelters of tree branches and lived in them for a week as a reminder of the 40 years spent in wandering in the desert.  These festivals reminded them that God had delivered their forefathers from slavery in Egypt and had given them the land that God had promised Abraham. 

Each of these festivals lasted for a week, but there was one that was totally different—the Day of Atonement, when everyone fasted and mourned for their sins.  The high priest would confess the sins of the people as he pressed his hands on the head of a goat.  Then the goat was led away to the wilderness, symbolizing the removal of sin from the people.

For the ancient Israelites, worship was important, and not to be taken lightly—for the individual, for the home, and for the entire nation.  So what happened?  Sometime after the destruction of the first temple, synagogues developed for public worship.  The services were more like our modern church services today, consisting of prayer, bible reading, and preaching, without sacrifices.  After the destruction of the second temple in A.D. 70, synagogues were the only places where Jews could worship in public.  There were no more sacrifices, which makes a lot of sense, because the Jews who had converted to Christianity had no more need of sacrifices, because Jesus is the Lamb.  Thanks to His death, there’s no more need for animal sacrifice.  The Old Testament sacrifices illustrate the achievement of Jesus in bringing peace between man and God. 

Yet, Christians are still to meet together for public worship.  The Old Testament provides a model of what true worship looks like.  Every home should be a church, and every meal an act of worship.  Each human family is a part of the greater family of God who should meet together to celebrate the new life Christ has brought through His death and resurrection.

The church today has done a fantastic job of restraining what worship looks like.  The average Christian is okay with it; where worship is within a time frame, and within the walls of the church.  That’s  the thinking of the average Christian today.  We’ve limited the worship of the Creator of the Universe to just a few hours on Sunday morning.

God wants a relationship with His people.  No matter what’s going on in your life.  That’s why Abraham built an altar—to remember his encounter with God.  God wants you to continue to worship Him.  We are His temples. We don’t have to have anything to worship God but our faith in Him. No matter where we are, the foundation of worship, God, is still there.  He wants us to spend some time there.  Find new ways to worship God.