Preparing to Worship God-Pastor Tim Jones
Exodus 19
1. Everything takes preparation! ?Those that Fail to plan-Plan to Fail?
a. When your kids go to school-you don?t just go off to college-
b. Weddings-You don?t just get married????
c. Moving into a new home?..
d. It all takes Preparation
Joke: A new young bride calls her mother in tears. She sobs, ’Robert doesn’t appreciate what I do for him.’
’Now, now,’ her mother comforted, ’I am sure it was all just a misunderstanding.’
’No, mother,’ the young woman laments. ’I bought a frozen turkey loaf and he yelled at me about the price.’
’Well, that is being miserly,’ the mother agreed, ’Those turkey rolls are only a few dollars.’
’No, mother it wasn’t the price of the turkey roll, it was the airplane ticket.’
’Airplane ticket.... What did you need an airplane ticket for?’
’Well mother, when I went to fix it, I looked at the directions on the back and it said, ’PREPARE FROM A FROZEN STATE,’ so I flew to Alaska.’
2. So?.it should not surprise us that as God prepares to form this RAG TAG group of people into a nation?
a. He even gives them their own law of the land?BUT
b. He calls for them to PREPARE Themselves
3. After Exodus 19, The 10 Commandments were given as Isreal is camped on Mt. Sinai.
a. Usually when we read these, we think that they all were camped out-Moses went up to meet with God and came back down
b. However, there were many trips up and down that mountain?
c. There were many preparations to be made
4. Notice what the Israelites were asked to do-It will give us clues for how we should PREPARE to meet with God
a. When we PRAY and When we WORSHIP
I. BE SPIRITUALLY PREPARED (V.3-6)
1. The First step in preparing to MEET God in Worship is to recognize that God is the AWESOME being that He is.
a. KIDS in school demand respect from Younger kids
b. STUDENTS should respect their Teachers
c. Kids should Respect their parents/Players should respect their coach
d. We should Respect GOD!
· He made us/protects us/draws us to Himself!
**In the text, there are many spectacular sights and sounds
e. Clouds, lightnings, thunder, trumpets and trembling mountains
f. These are all mentioned to IMPRESS upon us the power and glory of God
g. Before the Israelites can approach God, they need to have an appropriate sense of awe and reverence and gratitude
h. We DO NOT meet God as Equals
(Hebrews 12:28)Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire."
AW Tozer writes, "No one can know the true grace of God who has not first known the fear of God." It seems to me that we have lost some of that reverential fear. Sometimes we are overly and inappropriately familiar with the Almighty. Sometimes we relate to God as the great Gift-giver in the sky. And when we do this, we diminish who He is. Before we meet with God we must remind ourselves that we are about to meet with GOD.
· He is Holy-we are sinners in need of GRACE and MERCY
· He is ALL Powerful and We are WEAK
· He is ALL WISE-we can only see the PRESENT
· He is the CREATOR-We are the Created
· He is the standard that we Define and Measure our lives
2. To prepare ourselves spiritually, we must make sure we have a right relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ!
a. He sent His son to die in our place-He covers our sinfulness
b. We don?t need to be afraid of God?s wrath anymore!
c. BUT: We must respond to God?s offer of Grace
d. We must Come to Christ on HIS Terms!
3. As Believers, we must remember: Every time we come before Him, we are there by His invitation
a. When we forget that: Worship becomes meaningless, empty and even disrespectful-superficial emotionalism
b. It is not something to be proud of to be in a Worship Service and not personally MEET God
c. Are you Prepared on Sunday?s to WORSHIP?
II. BE MENTALLY PREPARED (19:7-8)
1. God was not willing to speak unless Israel was ready Mentally
a. How can God speak unless we are ready to listen?
JOKE: the teacher saw that little Johnny wasn’t paying attention in class. She called on him and said, "Johnny! What are 2 and 4 and 28 and 44?" Little Johnny quickly replied, "MTv, Star Moves, Channel-V and the Cartoon Network!"
b. We all need to REALIZE: God has a right to command His people
2. The concepts of Law and Grace must be kept in proper balance in the Christian Life
STUDY: God has always related to Israel by grace. He chose them to be His own not because of their size, their power, or their goodness. He chose them out of His mercy and love. God told Abraham (Genesis 12) that he would bless him and his descendents. In Genesis 15 God swore ?by himself? that He would do what He had promised for Abraham. This was an unconditional promise. God would be gracious to Abraham and his descendents.
3. Now at Sinai, it seems God is changing the rules, but He isn?t
a. He is still committed to Israel -He will bless Israel. (but..)
SLIDE: ?Enjoying God?s blessing is contingent upon the obedience of he people
**Middle 3 letters of o-b-e-d-I-e-n-c-e= DIE
b. We cannot just SAY we love God, we must love Him enough to be willing to FOLLOW Him!
A DOG IS A MANS BEST FRIEND: In a dog?s mind, a master or a mistress to love, honor, and obey is an absolute necessity. The love is dormant in the dog until brought into full bloom by an understanding owner. Thousands of dogs appear to love their owners, they welcome them home with enthusiastic wagging of the tail and jumping up, they follow them about their houses happily and, to the normal person seeing the dog, the affection is true and deep. But to the experienced dog trainer this outward show is not enough. The true test of real love takes place when the dog has got the opportunity to go out on its own as soon as the door is left open by mistake and it goes off and often doesn?t return home for hours. That dog loves only its home comforts and the attention it gets from its family; it doesn?t truly love the master or mistress as they fondly think. True love in dogs is apparent when a door is left open and the dog still stays happily within earshot of its owner. For the owner must be the be-all and end-all of a dog?s life.
c. So, what is the real test of our love for God?
· Our Works, Our Activities? Our Doctrinal Purity?
· ?It is when we have an opportunity to wander away, to disobey, to leave His presence, do we choose instead to stay close to Him, live for Him?
4. The person who truly loves God, obeys God.
a. WE respect Him. We keep close to Him and PREPARE ourselves mentally to enter His presence!
b. Some things God tells us may be hard to do:
· He may tell you to forgive
· He may tell you to stop some behavior that is destroying you and your relationship to Him
· He may tell you to do something to help someone else
· He may tell you to change your attitude
· He may tell you to wait for something you really want
ARE YOU PREPARED MENTALLY TO WORSHIP GOD?
III. BE PREPARED PHYSICALLY (19:10-13)
1. Why all the odd restrictions? God knew not only Spiritual and Mental preparation was necessary, but PHYSICALLY as Well!
a. It is the same in Sports, Education and on your Job!
b. We can be Emotionally and Spiritually focused but if we are not Physically Prepared: We will Fail
Super Bowl: Oakland has the advantage because of the distance they had to travel compared to Tampa Bay---also the time zone difference=bodies need adjusting
2. God gives Israel this ultimatum because they must prepare Physically to meet Him!
a. They should be clean Spiritually and Physically
b. They should be undistracted and very attentive
Think about a young guy finally getting to go on his first date with that special girl of his desire. He puts on his coolest clothes and splashes on after shave even though he didn’t need to shave, and drives to her home. He looks in the mirror to make sure his hair doesn?t look like Denise the Menace. Then (if you?re watching carefully) he checks his breath and makes sure his deodorant is working. Just before he rings the doorbell, he does a final check. Why? He wants to put His best foot forward.
ILLUST: We do the same thing for Church Attendance, Meetings, etc
In a Thurmont, Maryland, cemetery:
Here lies an church attender that did not know Christ
All dressed up
And no place to go.
c. We should be willing to Give God our VERY BEST!
CONCLUSIONS:
This entire account is nothing more than an interesting story unless we apply it to our own relationship with God
*How is your daily time with God? Weekly worship?
1. PREPARE SPIRITUALLY
· Be saved by the blood of Christ
· Follow Him in Commitment
· Pause from your busyness and worship Him/Thank Him
· Read the Bible-PSALMS
2. PREPARE MENTALLY
· Remind Yourself of Who God is
· Recognize your Sin and Shortcomings
· Let God speak to you-Be quiet before Him
3. PREPARE PHYSICALLY
· Get God?s House ready: comfortable ?if you respect the owner of the house, you respect His house?
· Get enough Rest on Saturday night
*Do you go to bed LATE and get up Grouchy?
*Do you pray more on Saturday night?
*IS going to church less important than going to WORK?
· We should plan on feeling our best and looking our best for worship
*There is nothing worse to me than being around a Grouchy, Stuffy, Cold, Judgmental and Arrogant Believer
*BUT: Also a Slouchy and Lazy one as well
*Dressing for church is not a contest, But we should look and feel our Best
WE ARE WORSHIPPING OUR SUPER GOD!
ARTICLE: Though we sing with the tongues of men and angels, if we are not truly worshipping the living God, we are noisy gongs and clanging cymbals. Though we organize the liturgy most beautifully, if it does not enable us to worship the living God, we are mere ballet-dancers. Though we repave the floor and reface the stonework, though we balance our budgets and attract all the tourists, if we are not worshipping God, we are nothing.
Worship is humble and glad; worship forgets itself in remembering God; worship celebrates the truth as God’s truth, not its own. True worship doesn’t put on a show or make a fuss; true worship isn’t forced, isn’t half-hearted, doesn’t keep looking at its watch, doesn’t worry what the person in the next pew may be doing. True worship is open to God, adoring God, waiting for God, trusting God even in the dark.
Worship will never end; whether there be buildings, they will crumble; whether there be committees, they will fall asleep; whether there be budgets, they will add up to nothing. For we build for the present age, we discuss for the present age, and we pay for the present age; but when the age to come is here, the present age will be done away. For now we see the beauty of God through a glass, darkly, but then face to face; now we appreciate only part, but then we shall affirm and appreciate God, even as the living God has affirmed and appreciated us.
So, now our tasks are worship, mission, and management, these three; but the greatest of these is worship.
We Prepare for PARTIES, VACATIONS, SUPER BOWL GAMES: Shouldn?t We also prepare to WORSHIP and MEET With our Great God?
