Part 5 - The New Testament Pattern Of Worship Series

11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

I want to begin this morning with a little quiz. See if you can identify the following products by their advertising slogans.

Easy Ones...

• "Just do it." Nike

• "It's the real thing." Coke

• "When you care enough to send the very best." Hallmark

• "Where's the beef?" Wendy's

• "The next best thing to being there." AT&T

• "It keeps going and going" - Duracell

• "Can You Hear Me Now?" - Verizon

• "What's In Your Wallet?" -- Capital One

Older Crowd...

• "I can't believe I ate the whole thing." Alka-Seltzer

• "Sometimes you feel like a nut" -- Almond Joy

• "MMM, MMM Good -- Campbell's Soup

• "They're Great!" Kellogg's Corn Flakes

• "A Little Dab'lI Do Yah." Brylcream

• "Builds Strong Bodies 12 Ways" -- Wonder Bread

• "We Bring Good Things to Life" -- GE

• "The Quality Goes in Before the Name Goes On" -- Maytag

• "The Dog Kids Love to Bite" -- Armor Hot Dogs

Younger Crowd...

• "Gotta Have my Pops" -- Sugar Pops

• "Obey Your Thirst" -- Sprite

• "Live in Your World, Play in Ours" -- PlayStation

• "You've Got Questions, We've Got Answers" -- Radio Shack

• "So Easy a Caveman Can Do it" -- Geico

• "Nothing Runs Like A Deere" -- John Deere

(Credit: Michael Snow, Sermon Central)

Unless we work in the field advertising or we have a product that we are trying to sell, few of us have any idea the billions of dollars that are spent each year to promote products. But the fact is advertising is not so much a matter of promoting a product as it is creating a need. Advertising is not so much a matter of satisfying hunger or quenching thirst as it is creating a hunger and thirst. This is what God’s instructions for Worship are for us.

We’re continuing in our study of Biblical Patterns of worship. Last week I took you to the Old Testament, specifically at God’s design of the Tabernacle to show you God’s instructions for Israel on His requirements in Worship. Everything in the Tabernacle and ultimately the Temple was for the purpose of showing honor to God. There was nothing about the Tabernacle that was the creativity, preferences, or imagination of the people of Israel. This should give us pause as to why and how that relates to us today.

Advertising uses words and images to capture our attention, generate a branding image and keep our attention to a product or company. God used images and metaphors to help Israel (and us) to understand our responsibility in Worship, who He is, and keep us from drifting away from the intent of worship. Nothing has changed.

You cannot have the New Testament without the Old Testament. Everything in the Old Testament was a foreshadowing of what was to come in the New Testament through Christ Jesus. This lays the foundation, even the footings of what our worship should reflect in 2019. Worship is not about reflecting our culture, ourselves, our preferences. Worship is about one thing: giving honor to Christ. It was in the Tabernacle and it is to be so in the church today.

We as a church are going to rediscover Christ’s invitation of the Father to worship in Spirit and Truth. Despite cultural influences (we’ll talk about that next week), despite trends seen in Christianity today. The way we are going to do that is to dive into Scripture and allow the Word of God through the Holy Spirit to speak to us and direct us. So this morning we’re going back to Hebrews 9 and looking at the Tabernacle as it was fulfilled by Jesus.

I. Our Holy Place of Worship

If you remember from last week. The Tabernacle was the center of life for the Israelis. It was constructed specifically with materials and dimensions outlined by God for the purpose of holiness and worship to a holy God. Before God instituted worship, he redeemed the people out of slavery. Then there is righteousness, then comes worship. You cannot be righteous without redemption and you cannot worship unless you are righteous. This is why God demanded that the priests be ceremonially cleansed. This is why the first thing that happened was the sacrifice at the altar.