The Broken Altar - When Worship Becomes Work Series

INTO:

Today we're kicking off a brand-new series that's going to challenge your spiritual comfort zone and reignite your relationship with God. We're talking about being SET APART in a world that wants you to fit in!

Have you ever felt like your relationship with God has become more routine than relationship? More obligation than devotion? More about checking boxes than changing lives? If we're being honest—and I need us to be real today—most of us have been there at some point.

I want to read a scripture that's been wrecking me lately. Isaiah 29:13 says, "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me."

Y'all, that hits different when you realize God might be talking about us. Not just ancient Israel, not just the world, but those of us who fill church buildings every Sunday while our hearts stay empty.

Today we're diving deep into what happens when our worship becomes work, when our altar—that sacred place of encounter with God—becomes broken. And I believe with everything in me that God is about to restore what's been damaged.

SECTION 1: RECOGNIZING THE CRACKS

Let me ask you something: When was the last time you were completely undone in God's presence? Not just emotional because the worship team hit that song you love, but truly undone—where you encountered God so powerfully that you couldn't stay the same?

For many of us, it's been a minute. And here's why that matters: The altar is meant to be the heart of our worship, the place where heaven touches earth. In Scripture, the altar wasn't just a religious structure; it was the place of sacrifice, surrender, and divine encounter.

I've got to be honest with you. There have been seasons in my ministry where I was preaching powerful sermons, leading people to Jesus, seeing lives changed—but my own altar was broken. I was doing the work of ministry while my personal worship was crumbling.

I remember standing on this platform a few years ago, delivering what everyone said was a "fire sermon," but inside I felt spiritually empty. I was operating on yesterday's anointing, yesterday's encounter, yesterday's fire. I had somehow exchanged intimacy for activity.

The broken altar often goes unnoticed because it doesn't always affect what people see on the outside. You can still sing the songs, say the right words, raise your hands at the right time. You can post your Bible on Instagram with a fire emoji caption. But God sees the heart.

Signs of a broken altar show up in subtle ways:

- When prayer feels like a task instead of a conversation

- When worship becomes about the song instead of the Savior

- When reading the Bible feels like homework instead of hearing from your Heavenly Father

- When serving God feels more like duty than delight

Romans 12:1 tells us, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."

Here's the thing about living sacrifices—they have a tendency to crawl off the altar. Our flesh doesn't want to stay surrendered. And before we know it, what started as passionate devotion becomes professional religion.

SECTION 2: THE DRIFT IS GRADUAL BUT THE DAMAGE IS SUBSTANTIAL

Nobody wakes up one morning and says, "Today, I think I'll neglect my relationship with God! Today's the day I'll let my altar fall into disrepair!" That's not how it works.

The drift happens slowly, almost imperceptibly. A skipped prayer here. A rushed quiet time there. Worship that becomes more about the experience than the encounter. Ministry that becomes more about the platform than the presence.

It's like the small cracks that form in a foundation. At first, they're barely noticeable. But over time, those tiny fissures grow, spread, and eventually threaten the entire structure.

I read something powerful in Barry Tallis's book "Set Apart" where he describes a vision of a broken altar. The character in the book stands in a temple, once magnificent but now in ruins. The altar that had been the center of worship was smashed into pieces, the rubble scattered across the floor.

And the voice in the vision asks this haunting question: "Who will rise and rebuild what has been broken?"

Church, I believe God is asking us the same question today.

The danger of spiritual drift is that it's subtle enough to deny but substantial enough to destroy. And the consequences are devastating:

1. We lose our spiritual authority

2. Our worship becomes empty ritual

3. Our witness to the world becomes ineffective

4. Our hearts grow cold and distant

Jesus had something to say about this in Revelation 2:4-5. He told the church at Ephesus: "Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place."