Intimacy with God. WORSHIP series.
Text- Mark 12:28-34 (NLT) Oct.14, 2001
28 One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the discussion. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. 30 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ 31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
32 The teacher of religious law replied, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth by saying that there is only one God and no other. 33 And I know it is important to love him with all my heart and all my understanding and all my strength, and to love my neighbors as myself. This is more important than to offer all of the burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law.”
34 Realizing this man’s understanding, Jesus said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.
Someone has calculated how a typical life span of 70 years is spent.
Listen to these surprising numbers:
Sleep.................23 years..........32.9%
Work................16 years..........22.8%
TV............…......8 years..........11.4%
Eating................6 years............8.6%
Travel................6 years............8.6%
Leisure.....…......4.5 years.........6.5%
Illness.......…......4 years...........5.7%
Dressing............2 years............2.8%
Religion............0.5 years..........0.7%
Total................70 years....…....100%
Now with if this is really true, people will have trouble relating to God. Intimacy with God is not a topic, we as humans can handle very well, we’re quite under qualified to do so. I do not think we should trust sources of human wisdom here. It is far too unreliable. Today, it seems, people are thinking a bit more about religion, as fears of Islamic extremism begin to come out to the woodwork. As of yesterday 5 more confirmed cases of anthrax has hit in the US. There’s hardly a gas mask you can buy off the shelf in the US, as a result. With that the reality of terrorist attacks via germ or biological warfare is no longer a theory, or speculation, it is deadly serious problem. FBI issured warning of serious threat too this past week! And with that the question of death and God and ultimate reality comes home to us. Maybe we better get some answers about God. If God is in control, what does He want of us? Why does He not stop the terrorist attacks? Today, few are able to answer that question well because only 0.7% of a typical person’s life span of 70 years is spent on the subject.
People do have trouble understanding God. But for Jesus, He has no trouble understanding God. Even when he was cornered like He was in context of Mark 12, he had no trouble telling the religious experts what god wants the most. You see, He came from God, in fact He is God so the Bible tells us , John 1:1(NKJV) “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:14 says: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
So when he was asked what the most important command in the Bible? Jesus, in our text, speaks without hesitation, knowing the truth, said there is only one God. To Jesus, worship begins with that, intimacy with God is about knowing there is a God, and He is just one, not many. Heb.11;6 NLT “So, you see, it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.”
From where He stands, He affirms that ultimate reality is simply there is a God and He is just one. Since only 0.7% of our typical 70 year life span is spent on thinking about this, should we not trust the One who came from God and demonstrated with miracles and His power over death by rising from the grave? How much of our lives have we really given to think about intimacy with God or a relationship with God? Let’s trust Jesus’ words shall we?
So first point, in getting close to God, is believing He exists and as heb.11:6 points out He will reward anyone who will give more than 0.7% of their lifespan to really seek Him. Intimacy with God begins here!
Next step is since there is a God, what does He want? And if you take a good look at what God is after you’ll find what God really desires, as He reveals to us his heart in the Bible is this:.
OUR whole BEING, all our hearts, soul, mind and strength! He wants hearts that are transformed, changed, moved by love. Love God and neighbor. He doesn’t want mere sacrifices of our time, money and talent. If that’s all God wants, Jesus would have replied to question of what’s the most important commandment, would be gimme your money, time and talent, all your resources, gimme!
Look closely you’ll find the heart of Christianity, the core of God’s heart is LOVE!
He wants us to know we are loved by Him and He desires very much for us to come to think of Him, learn of Him and be touched by His mercy and grace. That’s why God chose to send His Son, to give a human face to God, that we can relate to Him, know Him, and be known by Him. The fact that God is revealed through Jesus, shows us that God has no desire to be remote from us. From the beginning of time, God has invested Himself into humanity. The Bible tells us that somehow there is the image of God in all people. Let me quote Genesis 1:26,27 (NKJV)
26Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
This tells me that somehow God made us all to relate to Him in a way that all of other God’s creatures cannot. Somehow we are, in a sense tattooed, with the brand name of God in our being, nothing can change that!
This means when we do give Him our time money and talent, we give from a responsive heart of love, from a personal relationship not out of duty, not like the grudging way we pay the GST and PST and income tax. What wife would be moved, if a husband says it is his duty to give her flowers and chocolates on every Valentine’s Day? What wife would be moved with these words, “hey yo wife, here’s the flowers and don’t get fat on the chocolates.” Then, and go plop right in front on the TV and do channel surfing, you think that’s gonna do wonders for the relationship?
However if, the husband were to woo her with love, being gentle affectionate, whispering passionately words “I love you” performing tasks at home without being told “this is our duty.” Our text, Jesus was asked what’s most important commandment? It is about loving God. Do u think God just want us to do our duty? Mark 7:1-7 (NLT)
One day some Pharisees and teachers of religious law arrived from Jerusalem to confront Jesus. 2 They noticed that some of Jesus’ disciples failed to follow the usual Jewish ritual of hand washing before eating. 3 (The Jews, especially the Pharisees, do not eat until they have poured water over their cupped hands, as required by their ancient traditions. 4 Similarly, they eat nothing bought from the market unless they have immersed their hands in water. This is but one of many traditions they have clung to—such as their ceremony of washing cups, pitchers, and kettles.) 5 So the Pharisees and teachers of religious law asked him, “Why don’t your disciples follow our age-old customs? For they eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony.”
6 Jesus replied, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was prophesying about you when he said,
7 ‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far away.
Their worship is a farce,
for they replace God’s commands with their own man-made teachings.’
I trust that it is loud and clear that God wants worship that is from within, not a farce, not religious fluff, not unthinkingly uncritically following traditions, going through the motions, and meanwhile the heart is far away. I have to confess there were times when I worship on Sundays, the heart is far away. Thinking of other things, like who won the Stanley Cup playoffs, are the NY Yankees going to win the World Series again…
Hear again from God’s word -
Amos 5:21-27 (NLT)
21 “I hate all your show and pretense—the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies. 22 I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I won’t even notice all your choice peace offerings. 23 Away with your hymns of praise! They are only noise to my ears. I will not listen to your music, no matter how lovely it is. 24 Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, a river of righteous living that will never run dry.
25 “Was it to me you were bringing sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, Israel? 26 No, your real interest was in your pagan gods—Sakkuth your king god and Kaiwan your star god—the images you yourselves made. 27 So I will send you into exile, to a land east of Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is God Almighty.
Few things we can learn from this passage of Scripture:
1. GOOD SONGS/music DOES NOT MEAN real intimacy with God. V.23
You can use the most anointed songs, even the classics hymns of praise but this does not guarantee that the worship will be acceptable to God. God despised their songs because there was no justice and righteousness in their lives.
God values more what goes on inside, our love! Our love for God’s character, which is spelt out with the words “righteousness” and “justice”. Can u see, He wants more than our songs, more than the hymns we offer to Him.
But who has ever live with perfect justice in their lifetime, who among us is a river of righteous living?
That’s why we need Jesus to come in and take care of our dirty laundry. That’s why it makes sense for us to have a Savior! That’s why Jesus came and took care of business, our need to have our lives cleaned up before a holy God who wants justice and righteousness!
Because where there is no justice righteousness, there is no real life, just terror, abuse as we see from the disaster in the US terrorist attack!
We need to be cleaned up and have righteousness and justice in our lives. Only way we can get this as people who are imperfect, is through Jesus. Romans 3:21-22 (NKJV) says: 21But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. If we think we are nice people, look at the nice people whom witnesses say are ordinary, even courteous, people but in reality are terrorists. All the while as they pick up groceries, lived next door, learning to be a pilot, ordinary students, there they are planning all along to commit the atrocity of hijacking and flying an airplane to fly into the WTC. If we are to develop intimacy with God we gotta recognize that we are hopelessly inadequate, unrighteous, unjust and lost without hope if Jesus did not reveal a way out.
So let say once more, good songs is not worship. Good songs do not a relationship with God make! Only when our LIVES are transformed by the gift of God’s grace, by the forgiveness of sins that true worship or intimacy with God is possible! BE clean, righteous and just and only way is I know from Scripture for hopeless cases like me, is through Jesus.
2. GOOD SERVICES DOES NOT MEAN GOOD WORSHIP
Amos 5:21 I despised your feast days, and I do not savor your sacred assemblies.
Sometimes, we get out of a worship service and say “That was really a good service”. What we really meant was that the program was good. Every thing went on smoothly. The song items were good. The flow of the service was good. The church ambience was good. The message was short, sweet and encouraging. We all left the service “happy”. But was God “happy” with our services ?
Israel was busy observing her feast days and sacred assemblies not knowing that God actually despised them.
Many celebration services today are planned to make the congregation happy rather than to please God. At the end of the service, we all say “That was a good service”. Was it really good in God’s eyes ?
WE OFTEN FOCUS ON THE PRESENTATION OF THE SERVICE
MORE THAN THE PRESENCE OF GOD. God’s presence is only known through Jesus. Not via a program or a presentation! John 14:6 clearly says:
6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
3. GOOD OFFERINGS DOES NOT MEAN GOOD WORSHIP
Amos 5:22 Though you offer me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them. Nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings.
Israel presented to God the following offerings.
1) Burnt Offerings
2) Grain Offerings
3) Peace Offerings
But realize this, God rejected all their offerings. Today we find people bringing in their offerings to church, whether through their gifts of money time or talent. Is that really all God is after?
1 Sam 15:22-23 (NLT) responding to Saul and his rebellion against God:
22 But Samuel replied, “What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Obedience is far better than sacrifice. Listening to him is much better than offering the fat of rams. 23 Rebellion is as bad as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as bad as worshiping idols. So because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you from being king.”
As a result of Saul’s disobedience to God’s commands, he lost the Kingdom of Israel. God wanted his obedience more than his sacrifice.
GOD DELIGHTS IN OBEDIENCE MORE THAN SACRIFICE/offerings!
Israel continued to worship idols while they were sacrificing to God. If you continue to have idols in your life, don’t expect God to accept your worship. Renounce everything in your heart and in your life that takes away God, you will intimacy with God!
Amos 5:26 No, your real interest was in your pagan gods—Sakkuth your king god and Kaiwan your star god—the images you yourselves made. I.e. want a god u can control and shape in your image.
The Christian music industry in the United States is now a US 3 billion dollar industry. Worship albums are now the best sellers in Christian music. I wonder if worship is becoming a business, like Microsoft?
And I wonder if WE ARE IN DANGER OF WORSHIPPING WORSHIP music. Is intimacy with God = worship music? Or is intimacy with God = the Lordship of Jesus in my life!
Could it be WORSHIP MUSIC IS CLOSE TO BECOMING AN IDOL?
You see, we could get an Elvis impersonator to lead worship every Sunday, then our worship services will be full every week. But that’s not what God desires, He wants hearts that are revolutionized changed by His touch of grace, He wants a relationship not a system of rituals performed!
I n the later part of the book of Amos, God judged the worship in Israel and rejected all of it. God rejected all their songs and sacrifices. The temple was eventually destroyed.
Amos 8:2b,3a “The end has come upon my people Israel. I will not pass by them anymore. And the songs of the temple shall be wailing in that day”, says the Lord
Amos 8:10 I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation. I will bring sackcloth on every waist, and baldness on every head. I will make it like mourning for an only son, and its end like a bitter day.
The positive part in Amos is that God promised He would rebuild true worship in the last days.
Amos 9:11 On that day, I will raise up the tabernacle of David which has fallen down, and repair its damages. I will raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old.
I believe we are living in the era where God is restoring true worship, intimacy with Him, in His church. This true worship is not just about songs and music. It is about people who will live their lives according to the commandments of God’s and whole lifestyles are right before God. Whose totality of life is centred around the centre of Christian life is about - love! God’s passionate love is today being poured with mercy for sinners through Jesus Christ. Does the church rejoice over that and accept the Lord as He is revealed in Bible or respond to only the beat of the music? Do you and I sense God’s desire to rebuild worship and want to be part of it? God does not want us merely to worship the hymns or worship songs we sing. He wants lives touched by his love so that true righteousness and justice will course through our veins and that’s why we sing and are reaching out in love! God is rebuilding worship or intimacy with Him with His awesome grace that speaks mightily about His unconditional love acceptance and forgiveness. To God these are things that much better than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices. It is about restored relationships, where songs are sung by broken people admitting how far they fall short of God’s glory and yet finding that God has rescued them from wrath, where there is loving of neighbor or others around them with that same measure of love and grace. It is when such justice and righteousness reign like that God becomes a reality not a formality. You see, worship then is really about people whose character mirrors the character of their God and as result they exhibit a lifestyle that is consistent with the songs they sing. Will you now mirror the character of Your God, who is holy righteous and just?
Listen again…
32 The teacher of religious law replied, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth by saying that there is only one God and no other. 33 And I know it is important to love him with all my heart and all my understanding and all my strength, and to love my neighbors as myself. This is more important than to offer all of the burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law.”
34 Realizing this man’s understanding, Jesus said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.
Ask, yourself now do you serve the ONE GOD? Or are there other gods in your life?
All God wants is relationship, is LOVE, love Him and neighbor? Is there love in your life? This is crux of the matter, not offering or sacrifices. Do you know in love God chose you loved you covered all your sins?
That you can come to him and find as a Steve Camp songs says:
HE COVERS ME
O Lord, I feel so barren and ashamed of who I am
How I often fell I hid it well, it is a lie I cannot defend
So I lean upon Your mercy, as I confess my sin to You
There is no easy way, no saving face, when I finally see the truth
So let my life be filled with only You
Chorus: I know some day I will be free, the weight of sin shall be released, but for now He covers me
And though the trials, never end, I’ve learned to take them as my friends, for each day He covers me
Sometimes the pressure builds around me, and I feel about to break
I suffer painfully form wrongs done to me, but vengeance isn’t mine to take
So let me glory in my weakness till Your strength’s revealed in me
It is Your grace O Lord, that helps me carry on, to be the man I long to be
So let Your life be perfected, Lord, in me, until it’s You they see
And though heartache surrounds me, I know Your love is around me
Nothing can separate me from You and I know it’s true
Lastly, if you understand the above, the good news is, you are not far from the Kingdom of God. God has come close to us, through Jesus. How will u respond?
