INTRO.- 1 I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.” The people of God were going to worship the Lord at His house.
ILL.- A man was answering questions for a national poll one time. When asked for his church preference, he responded, "Red brick." What’s your preference?
Occasionally, some people will call and ask me about our church. I will tell them that we’re a Christian Church. They will most often say, “Well, kind of Christian Church?” In other words, they want to know if we’re a Baptist Church or Methodist Church or whatever. I say, “No, we’re a non-denominational Christian Church. We’re not a part of any denominational organization.”
People often think of all churches as being Christian Churches. That could be good and that could be very misleading as well, because I’ve known of some churches that were not so Christian once you found out what they believed and practiced. Just because a church has the word “church” in its name there is no guarantee that they follow Christ, such as the church of Scientology. There is nothing about Christ in the church of Scientology.
ILL.- It’s like what I heard former Spiritualist medium Ben Alexander said one time about the Christian Science church. He said, “It’s kind of Grape Nuts cereal. No grapes and no nuts. No Christian and no science.” So advertising doesn’t always live up to what they’re selling. Some people are quick to visit a church and others are not. Why is it that some people just don’t want to go to church?
ILL.- In a door-to-door survey conducted by Willow Creek Community Church in the Chicago suburb of South Barrington, IL, the question was asked: If you don't go to church, why?
The five biggest reasons: 1) Boring, 2) Irrelevant, 3) Asking for money all the time, 4) I'm too busy already, 5) I feel awkward at church. And frankly, I understand these reasons. If the church is boring and irrelevant to my life, and asking for money all the time then why would I want to go there?
And I understand that people are very busy in America today. Many feel like Sunday is the only day they have to relax or play. Of course, from my perspective that’s no excuse for missing worship of the God who created us and wants to save us in Christ. I’m sure God doesn’t think it’s a good excuse either.
Now if a person feels awkward in church that’s probably because they’ve never been there or else they haven’t been there in a very long time. But if a person is ever going to come to the Lord and come to faith in Him there is a point where they must become associated with the Lord’s church. That’s where most people hear about the gospel and God’s plan for their lives.
ILL.- Chuck Colson wrote: Membership in a confessing body is fundamental to the faithful Christian life. Failure to do so defies the explicit warning not to forsake "our assembling together." And Martin Luther said, "Apart from the church, salvation is impossible." Colson said: “Not that the church provides salvation; God does. But because the "saved" one can't fulfill what it means to be a Christian apart from the church, membership becomes the indispensable mark of salvation.”
John Calvin wrote, "So highly does the Lord esteem the communion of His church that He considers everyone a traitor and apostate from religion who perversely withdraws himself from any Christian society which preserves the true ministry of the word." Wow! Why should we go to church?
PROP.- What do we find in the house of the Lord?
1- In the house there is great joy
2- In the house there is much praise
3- In the house there is peace and security
I. IN THE HOUSE THERE IS GREAT JOY
1 I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.” 2 Our feet are standing in your gates, Jerusalem.
Don’t Grouch But Smile!
What good did it do to be grouchy today?
Did your surliness drive any trouble away?
Did you cover more ground than you usually do,
Because of the grouch you carried within you?
If not, what’s the use of a grouch or a frown,
If it won’t smooth a path, or a grim trouble drown?
If it doesn’t assist you, it isn’t worthwhile.
Your work may be hard, but just do it—and smile!
Don’t be a grouch, smile! And even more, REJOICE! Show your joy! Where’s the joy? If we don’t have it we need to get it and show it!
ILL.- “One Sunday morning in London,” reported D. L. Moody, “Spurgeon said to me, just before he commenced his sermon: ‘Moody, I want you to notice that family there in one of the front seats and when we go home I want to tell you their story.’
“When we got home,” said Moody, “I asked him for the story, and he said: ‘All that family were won by a smile.’” “Why,” said I, “how’s that?”
“Well,” said he, “as I was walking down a street one day, I saw a child at a window; it smiled, and I smiled, and we bowed. It was the same the second time; I bowed, she bowed. It was not long before there was another child, and I had got in a habit of looking and bowing, and pretty soon the group grew, and at last, as I went by, a lady was with them. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to bow to her, but I knew the children expected it, and so I bowed to them all. And the mother saw I was a minister, because I carried a Bible every Sunday morning.
“So the children followed me the next Sunday. And they thought I was the greatest preacher, and their parents must hear me. And, finally the father and mother and five children were converted, and they are going to join our church next Sunday.”
“Won to Christ by a smile!” said Moody. “We must get the wrinkles out of our brows, and we must have smiling faces, if we want to succeed in our work of love.”
And we could well say, a family was won to Christ by joy! The joy that produces a great smile! And how do we get it? Where does it come from?
Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” Our joy comes from the Lord and is in Him.
Luke 10:21 “At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children."
Jesus was full of joy through the Holy Spirit. Perhaps we don’t give enough credit to the Holy Spirit whom God has given us and who produces good stuff, good fruit in us.
Acts 13:52 “And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.”
Acts 16:34 “The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.” This means the more the belief, the more the joy. And where does the belief come from?
Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
We become full of joy and peace when we trust Him. The more the trust, the greater the joy. And we should find great joy in the Lord’s presence in worship at church and everywhere else we worship!
II. IN THE HOUSE THERE IS MUCH PRAISE
3 Jerusalem is built like a city that is closely compacted together. 4 That is where the tribes go up—the tribes of the Lord—to praise the name of the Lord according to the statute given to Israel.
ILL.- One day the telephone rang in the preacher’s office of the Washington church which President Franklin Roosevelt attended. An eager voice inquired, “Tell me, do you expect the President to be in church this Sunday?” “That,” the preacher explained patiently, “I cannot promise. But we expect God to be there, and we fancy that will be incentive enough for a reasonably large attendance.” What are those words that Jesus said about gathering in His name?
Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” God gathers together with His gatherers! And when we gather, He is there and He should be praised, thanked and worshiped! It’s what church is all about.
ILL.- James Packer wrote: “To worship God is to recognize his worth or worthiness; to look God-ward, and to acknowledge in all appropriate ways the value of what we see.” To worship God is a matter of acknowledging Him as God! And recognizing that because of Him we live, breathe and have existence. And because of Him we have the promise of life beyond this life! This being true, HE DESERVES OUR WORSHIP, OUR PRAISE!
ILL.- The word, “hallelujah!” is the word is Hebrew, a compound of two words which means “praise be to God” or “praise the Lord.” This was the same word which captured the attention of George Frederick Handel, who wrote The Messiah. And He shall reign forever and ever” wrote Handel, with the words “Hallelujah, hallelujah.” It is no wonder that Handel, who had barricaded himself into his room and practically neither ate nor slept as he wrote, later told a friend, “It seemed as if heaven came down and filled my soul.” Could it be that the more we worship Him, the more we praise Him, the more heaven will fill our souls?
ILL.- William Temple wrote: “Worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of mind with His truth; the purifying of imagination by His beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of will to His purpose -- and all of this gathered up in adoration...”
We of all people should know what it means to praise God and should desire to praise Him in every way possible, that is, through our singing of the hymns, through the prayer time, through the reading and study of scripture, etc.
You see, when the Word of God is preached it is not just a time of listening and learning. It’s also a time of worship. We rightfully worship the Lord when we listen to His Word expounded. We should give our full attention and our “Amen” to God’s word. That’s a part of worship and praise.
III. IN THE HOUSE THERE IS PEACE AND SECURITY
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May those who love you be secure. 7 May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels.” 8 For the sake of my family and friends, I will say, “Peace be within you.” 9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your prosperity. “May those who love you be secure. 7 May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels.” Citadels are what? They are fortresses.
ILL.- Author Gregory P. Elder wrote: Growing up on the Atlantic Coast, I spent long hours working on intricate sand castles; whole cities would appear beneath my hands. One year, for several days in a row, I was accosted by bullies who smashed my creations. Finally I tried an experiment: I placed cinder blocks, rocks, and chunks of concrete in the base of my castles. Then I built the sand kingdoms on top of the rocks. When the local toughs appeared (and I disappeared), their bare feet suddenly met their match. CAN YOU IMAGINE THE SURPRISE THEY GOT?
Someone wrote: “Many people see the church in grave peril from a variety of dangers: secularism, humanism, materialism, politics, heresies, or plain old sin. They forget that the church is built upon a Rock (Matt. 16:18), on which the gates of hell shall not prevail or overcome it!”
What does this mean to us? It means that our greatest security is in the Lord! And the more we worship Him in private and in public, the more peace and security we have! But some people are asking for trouble in this world.
ILL.- Do you remember when that 24 year old girl intern named Dianna Hanson was killed by a 4-year old male African lion named Cous Cous back in March? Fresno County coroner David Hadden told ABC News that he believes a gate or door was left partially open when the male African lion named Cous Cous attacked Hanson Wednesday afternoon. He said, "The cat had just been fed and there was food in the bowl and the cat had ignored the food in order to have access to this young lady.”
Dianna Hanson was reportedly talking on her cell phone with a co-worker at the time of the incident when the call abruptly ended, suggesting Hanson might have been completely caught off guard by the lion. Hanson was two months into an internship program at the Cat Haven in Dunlap, a small town in Fresno County near King's Canyon National Park, when she was killed. Fresno County Coroner David Hadden said Dianna Hanson died instantly when the 550-pound lion broke her neck, apparently with a swipe of a paw.
The girl’s father said, “Anybody who works with cats knows that they are wild animals and they can turn even on people closest to them. So I always had this horrible, nagging premonition that I would get a call like this."
God have mercy on her soul. Do you realize there is danger in our world and in many places? Of course, I realize that not many people would want to go into a lion’s cage. But we are living in a lion’s cage in this world!
ILL.- One time my aging mother told me, “Honey, don’t ever go into a bar. Bad things happen in those places.” And there are many dangerous places in this world where evil takes place. And not all danger is found in bars.
1 John 5:19 “We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.” The world is under his control and what is his agenda?
I Peter 5:8-9 “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”
The devil is like prowling lion, looking to devour and destroy people’s souls! Jesus came “to seek and to save” whereas the devil came “to seek and destroy.” Consequently, our salvation and security are in the Lord. We find peace and security in Him alone. And this is why we worship Him! In Him and in His house of worship we find peace and security!
CONCLUSION-------------------------
Joy. Praise. Gratitude. Peace and security. All these sound good and they are. And they are found in the Lord and in worshiping Him. Investments pay but some pay more or better than others. BANKS DON’T PAY BUT THE LORD DOES!
Matthew 6:33 “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you.” What things? Many good things: material provision, joy, salvation, peace and security, etc.
