God’s Favorite House Part 3
If we build it HE will come
"TRUE WORSHIP"
TEXT: II Chronicles 29:1-11, 15-29
INTRO:
I heard a story one time about a man that was extremely over weight. He had a genetic problem that caused his problem with weight.
The young man sits down with Tommy Tenney and told this story…
“Tommy, I know people laugh at me” He would say.
The young man was so heavy that it inhibited him socially.
He said “ I have very good friends who would love for me to come visit them. We regularly spend time together in restaurants, but I would love to just sit down in the intimacy of their homes and fellowship with them. Yet, I can’t.”
“Tommy, when I drop by their homes, I will stand at the foyer with my hat and coat on the whole time. I never take them off until I scan the room looking for a place to sit, a place that will hold my weight.” He said, “I have made my mind up. I have broken my last chair. I refuse to sit in a seat that looks as if it won’t bear my weight. I won’t be embarrassed anymore. I just won’t visit if I have to do that. So I scan the room from the doorway.”
“I always here my friends telling me in all ea4rnestness and sincerity “come on in, have coffee sit and visit with us.” But the whole time I am talking I am scanning the living room, kitchen whatever. I have visited before unsuccessful but I am looking to see if they have added any furniture that might hold me up. I knew there was nothing there on my previous visit but I want to spend time with them, I want there company.
With a sigh he said “These visits often end sadly I have make up an excuse and say I need to get going and go out to my car and weep, I want so bad to be with my friends and loved ones.
If we can grasp this that God wants to visit us but we have not built any thing to which will hold His weight, we have not built for Him a mercy seat through worship.
Do we want Him to visit us? Or are we satisfied with the status quo?
In our text we see that the final stage of Hezekiah’s reforms that resulted in a great revival for Judah was restoring true worship. He gained this TRUE WORSHIP by building or rebuilding the house of God (the house of WORSHIP).
There are many people today that fail to appreciate the power of true worship. Rather than see a worship service as a real opportunity to enter into God’s presence they often feel going to Church is something they have to do...thus no joy!
ILLUS: The reasons why I have not been to church in awhile falls under one of these excuses.
1. Every time I went, they asked for money.
2. The people I sat next to didn’t seem friendly.
3. The seats were too hard and not comfortable at all.
4. I went to many services but the pastor never asked me to sing.
5. The others made decisions that I couldn’t agree with.
6. The services went into overtime and I was late getting home.
7. The pianist played numbers I’d never heard before and it wasn’t my style of music.
8. It seems the special services are always scheduled when I want to do other things.
9. I suspect that I was sitting next to some hypocrites.
10. My parents took me to too many services when I was growing up.
11. I hate to wait in the traffic jam in the parking lot after the service.
True worship is a transforming experience, and is certainly a mark of a revived Church or believer.
If we move into true worship, the kind that will build a mercy seat then God’s glory or God’s Kabod (the Hebrew term for glory) will show up and then we can have revival. Not until then, we cannot have revival based on temporal things we base our revival on God.
The real tragedy is that any Church can be in revival all the time, the opportunity for true worship at any service is there, and we just need to enter into worship in the right way.
The Bible teaches us that there is tremendous joy in worshipping God in the right way, with the right heart. The path to a revived Church or believer can be found in true worship. But, there must be preparation first.
If we build it HE will come
I. PREPARATION IN WORSHIP 29:10-19
A. Covenant 29:10-11 Recognize the Need
1. Hezekiah understood that Judah had lost its passion for worship, the Temple had been closed by his father Ahaz, and the people hadn’t worshipped for some time.
a. Simply getting people to Church wouldn’t work, the leaders needed to prepare adequately and set an example.
b. Worship begins with a commitment to God!
c. It was important that the leadership demonstrate the passion for worship first.
2. No Church can expect its membership to have a passion for worship if its leadership does not!
3. Worship is not just some routine we go through, it is a covenant with God to make Him important in our lives, to give priority to Him.
a. We don’t worship to impress other people, we worship to have God impact our lives!
b. Too often we judge a worship experience by what others do, we should judge it by what we do!
B. Remove the Clutter! 29:12-19
1. Once the commitment is understood and accepted the first job is to remove all the clutter that would hinder our worship!
a. Notice that when Hezekiah has the leadership make a covenant to return Judah to true worship the first job assigned them was to clean out the clutter that would distract from the ability to worship properly!
2. The neglect of the Temple had left a legacy of debris and the appearance of a glorious past was its only testimony.
3. When we come to worship God we need to leave the clutter in a junkyard somewhere!
4. These distractions only keep from us the presence of God.
5. It was imperative to remove the distractions so that the worship experience was all it could be.
6. These were merely the preparations for worship, but they were important to the experience all would share together later.
If we build it HE will come
II. PARTICIPATION IN WORSHIP 29:20-36
A. Cleansing 29:20-24
1. The first act of worship as the Temple opened its doors again was the need for cleansing from sin! This is always where worship starts, we must come before a holy God clean!
a. Too many people see a worship service as the place where they had better find a good time or they won’t return ... the problem today with most people’s approach to worship is that they believe even in worship that it is the pursuit of happiness that is their focus, when it should be the pursuit of holiness!
2. These days are what WE get out of worship, instead of what GOD gets out of it we have lost our desire to please because we want ourselves to be pleased.
3. In the Old Testament, one could not even enter the "Holy Place" until you had stopped at the Altar of Sacrifice for your sins! Then at the basin for cleansing.
a. Cleansing is the preliminary step to entering into worship.
b. There can be no true worship experience without our sins cleansed first!
c. The second item before the door to the Holy Place indicated the need of cleansing, it was the bronze laver ... a large brass bowl of water where the priest’s feet and hands were washed before entering into God’s presence.
(1. There was first a blood sacrifice for sins - Justification
(2. Then a washing of feet and hands to indicate cleansing our walk - Sanctification
d. Now to tie all this together. The outer courtyard had all the metal in bronze...the symbol of judgment, (hence the need to be cleansed) however, all the items in the Holy Place were gold, the symbol of God’s presence - thus celebration or worship.
B. Celebration 29:25-30
1. Once inside the Holy Place the atmosphere dramatically changes, outside was the stench of death from the blood sacrifices, inside is the sweet smell of incense from the altar of incense and the warm glow of light from the golden lamp-stand...along with the bread on the table of shewbread which was the image of God’s provisions for us.
a. Here was CELEBRATION!
b. The focus was not on the crowds, it was on God!
c. It was not meant to be a boring experience, it was an experience of wonderment!
2. Worshipping is not what we get, but what we give.
a. Note that Churches pass offering plates for people to give, not take money out of them!
b. The whole service should be viewed as an "offering" unto God!
3. The celebration included offering up songs .. expressions of our joy in God’s salvation!
a. When God becomes our focus, His presence is not only felt, it impacts our lives!
4. God is the only proper focus of a worship service!
5. Where is your focus in a worship service?
6. True worship is a great path to revival, and the keeping power of a revival! These same paths taken by Hezekiah and Judah are available to us today too ... are you willing to travel them?
CONCLUSION: True worship is not just something that "happens", it is something we prepare for and then participate in!
Is God longing to be in our presence? Is He standing at the back door waiting to come in with His “hat and coat” still on? Does He leave sad because our worship is so that it never creates a place for Him to sit? Lord send us revival!!
If we build it HE will come.
