Passion For God’s House

I want you to think about how you feel whenever you decide to attend church. Do you dread going to church; do you feel complacent about it; or do you anticipate going to church with a fervent passion and desire?

In our message this morning, we’ll view a passage from Psalm that’s said to be written by the “sons of Korah.” They’re attributed with having written eleven of the psalms;(1) and in the one that we’ll be viewing today, the sons of Korah expressed a great passion to be in God’s temple; or rather, His house.

In fact, the sons of Korah were prominent in Levitical standing, where they actually served in the tabernacle and the temple.(2) They were passionate about being in God’s house, and they were still enthusiastic even though they worked and labored there all day long; and in our message this morning, we’ll discover four main reasons why we too can be passionate about coming to worship in God’s house.

A Place to Satisfy Our Passion (vv. 1-2)

How lovely is Your tabernacle, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God (Psalm 84:1-2).

Point #1: God’s house is “A Place to Satisfy Our Passion.” We see demonstrated here an extreme passion for God and His house. David once declared, “Zeal for Your house has eaten me up” (Ps 69:9); which is rendered in the New Living Translation as, “Passion for your house burns within me.” How many believers can actually confess that at one time or another they’ve been eaten up and consumed with a burning passion for the Lord?

When we come to grips with the wideness and depth of God’s grace, and His love, mercy and compassion, then our soul will begin to burn with a fire and passion that cannot be contained. We have within us the Holy Spirit who will cause us to burn with the passion of praise (Acts 2:3-4); as we yearn to worship “our God [who] is a consuming fire” (Heb 12:29). The sons of Korah sang elsewhere, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?” (Psalm 42:1-2).

A burning passion for the Lord will turn into an extreme thirst that requires satisfaction. Those who thirst to worship God will yearn for a house of praise in which they can openly and freely worship the Lord unencumbered by the chains of human expectations and legalism; and they will long for a place where all eyes are on Jesus. No one wants to be in a place where all eyes are focused on church members in comparison, with the intention of criticizing the worship of other believers.

True worshippers thirst for freedom in worship where they can praise the Lord in spirit and truth, and with their entire being, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him (Jn 4:23-24). Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Mt 5:6). Those who are burning with a passion for the Lord, who live with an extreme thirst for God, and who are hungering for His righteousness, are awaiting fulfillment and craving it; and we must make certain that God’s house is the place where they can find it.

We see the sons of Korah passionately longing to abide in the Lord’s tabernacle. God’s house is a place to satisfy our passion – that is, our passion for Jesus Christ and our pursuit of His praise. We read, “My soul longs . . . for the courts of the Lord,” and how, “My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God” (Ps 84:2). We find here three parts of a person’s makeup that are mentioned – soul, heart, and flesh.

Jesus said that the first and greatest commandment is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mk 12:30). The first and greatest commandment, which is to love the Lord with everything we have, contains all three areas of passionate longing mentioned in Psalm 84:1-2. What we see in these two verses is a deep and passionate love for the Lord.

If we truly love the Lord, and hunger to praise the name of Jesus Christ, then our passion can be satisfied in God’s house. It truly is a place to satisfy our passion. So, if we’re searching for a place to let go and give it all to God, then the Lord’s house is where we need to be!

A Place for All to Take Refuge (v. 3)