Worship: foundation for life
Ezra 3
As most of you know, when Sue and I go on vacation, we give serious thought to where we will worship on Sunday morning. If at all possible, we try to attend two worship services.
We did that last month in Colorado and the two services could not have been more different. The first one, at 8:00, was in a beautiful, brick facility, one we had attended once before. We remembered it because a large window in the sanctuary gave a wonderful view of the mountains. Unfortunately, a heavy rainstorm was in progress, so we couldn’t see much outside. Inside, the service was rather traditional, almost formal, following the bulletin carefully. Beautiful pipe organ music accompanied our singing from their hymnal. An elderly woman sang a solo. And the pastor spoke smoothly and fluently and, even-though he used many nice words, he said absolutely nothing. But the people were friendly – mostly to each other.
It was raining even harder when we got to the second place. This service was more informal and it was held in a rented, rustic building made from logs. The people were mostly young, many with kids, and the hymns were contemporary, projected on a screen, and accompanied by a small band. Several people gave spontaneous testimonies about what God was doing in their lives and the pastor seemed humble and very devout. And when he was done preaching, you knew what he had said. The people were friendly – to each other and to us.
We felt privileged to be a part of two congregations who had gathered to worship God. In both cases, their worship was an important part of their lives. They had made it a priority. Even heavy rain didn’t keep them away.
And now that we are back here, Sue and I thank God for the privilege of worshiping with you week after week. And the fact that you are here today means that you have made worshiping God a priority in your life.
The Bible has a lot to say about worship and we can only touch on it today. Worship can be defined as bringing pleasure to God. Ps. 147 says, “The Lord is pleased with those who worship him and trust his love.” Of course, gathering together on Sunday morning is not the only time we worship God. The Bible says to worship God continually. Worship is a foundation for life, whether you are young or old, and that includes worship both alone and with others.
Last Wednesday evening at Bible study, one woman confessed that last Sunday she did something she had never done before. She had stayed home and watched Christian programs on television instead of going to church. And, she said, “It wasn’t the same.” Hebrews 10:25 says, “Do not neglect meeting together, but encourage one another as you see the Day approaching.” God is pleased when we gather for worship. The Bible points out again and again how important worship is in the life of God’s people. Worship is a foundation for life.
We are made to worship; that is the way we are wired. If you don’t believe me, watch what happens in the football stadium in a week or two. Tens of thousands of people will be there to pay homage to their favorite team. Cheerleaders will coach the spectators in songs and chants. And they won’t mind if it goes into overtime. People will worship something; the only question is what. If we don’t worship God, something will take its place. We have a need to connect with God, because He is the one who made us.
In our scripture passage today, we get a glimpse of how important worshiping God is. Turn to Ezra 3 as we continue our journey through the Bible.
Review
The year is 537 B.C. The place is Jerusalem. The Jews have just returned from a long captivity in Babylon. Some have been gone from their homeland for as long as 50-60 years. They were sent into captivity as part of God’s judgment on generations of disobedience. Now, at last, the first group of Jews is returning to their homeland. But everything has changed. The countryside is in the hands of their enemies. The city of Jerusalem looks like the pictures of Lebanon we have been seeing in the news.
The city walls have been torn down and buildings have been looted. And worst of all, the temple built by Solomon is gone. Utterly destroyed. The Babylonians had taken the gold, the silver, and everything else that was valuable. In the place where the temple used to stand, all they could see was rubble.
Still, as we learned last week, the fact that they had returned was a miracle. God had used an ungodly king to accomplish a godly purpose. Just as God had brought them out of Egypt with the permission of ungodly Pharaoh and under the leadership of Moses, God had made it possible for them to return home from Babylon. They knew God was in charge and their response was to honor, praise and worship him.
There are several things we can learn from this chapter in Ezra.
1. The Priority of Worship
When these people returned from Babylon, I’m sure they worked hard to get their lives back together. They found towns to live in and started to go about their daily lives. But, even though they had begun living in their towns, you can tell that establishing a place of worship was a priority for them. Already in 2:68 we see that they were giving freewill offerings for the house of God. They wanted to get it built.
In chapter 3 we see some of the steps they took to make regular worship possible. I’m sure they had work to do yet in their homes, but v.1 says they left their towns and gathered in Jerusalem to build an altar so they could offer sacrifices to God. Worship was on their minds. Remember what Noah and his family did first when they came off the ark? They built an altar to worship God. Remember what Abraham did after God spoke to him in Gen. 12? He built an altar. In the same way, these people knew it was time to build an altar, to worship God. And they began to celebrate the special religious festivals. Chapter 3 lists some of them.
We learn from these verses that worship was the highest priority for them. We need to ask ourselves:
• When the pages of history are written about this congregation and about your life, will they say that worship was a priority?
• Will those records show that worship was on the minds of the people who attended Elm Street?
• Will your children and members of your household say that worship was a priority with you?
• How much of an emergency does it take to keep you away from worshiping with God’s people?
• What do you do on Saturday night to prepare yourself for worship? A couple of weeks ago, someone who had promised to be here said, “I overslept.” I don’t know what time this person went to bed, but I offered to buy an alarm clock. And I have also offered to make courtesy calls on Sunday morning.
For people who are serious about their relationship with God, worship must be a priority.
2. Principles of worship
In verses 10-11 we find two principles of worship.
(1) The object of worship is God. In vs. 10-11, we see that their praise and worship were directed to the Lord. Three times we see the words “to the Lord” mentioned. One thing we need to remember about worship: we don’t worship for what we can get out of it. Occasionally, I have heard people say, “I didn’t get anything out of it.” Worship is not for our benefit. There are benefits to worship, of course, but the real reason we worship is for God’s benefit. Someone once told me, “I’m sorry I didn’t make it to the worship service.” I was glad to hear that worship was such an important part of his life that he felt the need to apologize. Half jokingly I said something like, “Don’t apologize to me. You don’t come to worship me.” We don’t worship to please ourselves. We worship to please God. Our purpose is to bring glory to our Creator. And he wants us to do that with passion and commitment. So, it’s not a matter of what we get out of worship. Maybe we should ask instead, “What does God get out of our worship?”
(2) The content of worship is praise. When we go back to verse 10-11, we see that the words they used were words of praise. They sang responsively. I think that means a leader gave a line and the people responded with a line they had memorized. They used a refrain from Psalms, “for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.” Everyone was involved. You can find a phrase like that in Psalm 136. (Let’s try it.) God loves to hear us praise Him. Now you may think you sing like a squeaky hinge and can’t tell one note from another, but the Bible says we should make a joyful noise. However you do it, praising God for his goodness is always in order. After all, he is the Creator and sustainer of our world. And praising God for his steadfast love is always in order because he heals, redeems, forgives, and guides his people. When we pray, when we worship, whether here or at home, let’s remember to praise Him. For some of us it takes conscious effort because it is so easy to say, “Gimme this or gimme that.” And that is o.k. but the content of our worship should be praise for who God is.
3. The Power of Worship
I want to say a word yet about the power of worship. Worship has the power not just to change your life, but your worship can have an impact on others. When the Israelites gathered for their public praise celebration after returning from captivity, we learn a couple of interesting details. Actually, their worship service must have been a strange scene because some of the old people were weeping and the young people were shouting for joy. Why would a worship service bring that kind of emotional response?
Some people there were old enough to remember the glorious temple from 50 - 60 years ago and even though they still had God, they did not have the temple they were used to seeing. So, the tears of the older ones were probably tears of memory and loss. The young people, on the other hand, had no memory of a temple of any kind, so they were jubilant that finally they had something to look forward to. So that accounts for the mixed responses we read about here.
But what I find interesting are two lines in these verses. Verse 11 says that “all the people responded with a great shout when they praised the Lord.” Can you imagine the depth of feeling these people had as they praised the Lord together after having seen all that God had done for them? And what’s more, the last line of the chapter says “the people shouted so loudly that the sound was heard far away.”
I doubt that we have ever shouted our praise so loudly in our worship services that people outside have heard us. I remember hearing singer Chuck Sommers say once, “Sometimes I can hardly wait until Sunday when I can get to church to let my praise out.” I hope that is true for you. And I do know that our worship services here send a message to others. Some people have told us they watch what goes on here. They see who enters and leaves. And some have asked if it would be o.k. for them to come. And be assured that people who live around you probably know where you are going when you leave for church on Sunday morning. We might be surprised to know the ways and the places the voice of this congregation is heard. A worshiping community can be a powerful witness to the world around it.
Conclusion
Have you thought about the way God has created you, blessed you, forgiven you, guided you? What has been your response? How has God’s love, his grace, his compassion, motivated you to live? Have you made worshiping him the foundation of your life? Is worship a priority with you? Have you made God the object of your worship? Do you praise him? And, remember, you don’t have to wait until Sunday to let your praise out.
