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Ingleside Presbyterian Church A Congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America |
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Ingleside Presbyterian Church A Congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America |
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It was a staid and stoic Presbyterian Church. Marble floors, beautiful columns, not a piece of padding on the dark wood pews. The choir was placed in the balcony, out of sight and the pastor wore a fancy robe. An older lady visited that day and during the pastor’s sermon, she sprinkled his message with an "Amen" or "Hallelujah" or "Preach it, brother." One of the ushers approached her, quite disturbed that she would give an outburst. He asked, "Lady, what is wrong with you?" "I’ve got religion," she replied, to which he answered, "Well, you didn’t get it here." In Hebrews 13, the writer talks about service that is pleasing to God. He helps us understand, as believers, that what we do really pleases and moves the heart of God. This morning, we will discover that our praise is pleasing to the Lord. Heb. 13:8-16 "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday & today & forever. Do not be led away by diverse & strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them. We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp & bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good & to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God." How we perceive God determines how we approach Him. Here are some letters from children to God. Nan writes, "Dear God, I bet it’s very hard for You to love all of everybody in the whole world. There are only four people in our family & I could never do it." Tommy writes, "Dear God, Are You really invisible or this just a trick?" Jenni writes, "Dear God, Please put another holiday between Christmas and Easter. There’s nothing good going on right now." Larry writes, "Dear God, Maybe Cain and Abel wouldn’t kill each other so much if they had their own rooms. It works for me and my brother." Joannie wants to know: "Dear God, Instead of letting people die and having to make new ones, why don’t You just keep the ones that You’ve got now?" Jane writes, "Dear God, I read the Bible. What does ‘begat’ mean? Nobody will tell me." How we approach God is how we see Him. When the Hebrew writer starts talking about praise, he approaches the whole issue by talking about sacrifice. This morning we sang, "We Bring the Sacrifice of Praise." Do we understand what we mean when we sing that chorus? Praise, here, is compared to sacrifice. This morning, I want to go into the Old Testament and talk about the priest, the sacrifice and sin offerings and why the Hebrew writer would tell us that when we give a sacrifice of praise, that fills the role of a priest in the Old Testament. (In a sense, you may become a priest today without having to attend seminary.) When the high priest went into the Holy of Holies on behalf of the children of Israel, he was coming in for the atonement of the sin of the entire population. And when he entered, he went into the very presence of God. When we praise God, we are literally walking into the very throne room of God. In the Holy of Holies the high priest confessed to God the sins of a very degenerate society. That was where truth and honesty were shared. When we bring praise to God, that is what happens to us. Remember two weeks ago, when Isaiah saw God? His response was "Woe is me! I’m undone, I’m unclean." Isaiah realized his sinfulness when he entered the holiness and presence of God. There was a spiritual connection between the priest and the Lord when he entered the Holy of Holies. Our praise becomes our connection between God and ourselves. Let’s compare the Old Testament sacrifices of animals and the New Testament sacrifice, who is Jesus Christ. The Old Testament Sacrifice: Animals (Heb. 13:11) In the Old Testament, animals were sacrificed and the blood was presented to God and the bodies were burned outside of the camp. The tabernacle signified the presence of God. We have two major tabernacles in the Old Testament, the one that Moses built (Exodus 25 and following) and the one built by Solomon, after his father, King David, had prepared the way for its construction. These two tabernacles show us how praise and worship progressed in the Old Testament. The Tabernacle of Moses was located on Mt. Gibeon and contained three areas: the outer court, the inner court and the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies was restricted to the high priest only. He went in alone to sacrifice to God and to intercede for all of the children of Israel. There was no singing in this worship. It was a time of bringing forth the blood sacrifice and pleasing God. It was based on law and works. The Tabernacle of David, which Solomon built, was situated on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem. (I Kings 7 and 8) There was one area where all priests could go. In addition to animal sacrifices there was joy, song, dance, laughter and clapping. At the Temple, there begins to be a major participation of the people. It is no longer people standing outside of the tabernacle, waiting for the high priest to go in. Now they are allowed to sing and participate. It was more based on grace and faith. When Solomon built the temple, the tabernacle of Moses still resided on Mt. Gibeon. After Solomon’s reign, the kingdom was divided. Ten tribes made up the northern kingdom and two tribes comprised the southern kingdom. The Ark of the Covenant was moved into the Temple. Remember, the Ark symbolized the presence of God. It contained the stone tablets bearing the Ten Commandments. When the northern tribes worshiped at Mt. Gibeon, they worshiped without the presence of God. They went through the rituals, but the presence of God was with the Ark at Mt. Zion. Think about today and people who attend church. Psalm 22:3 tells us "Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel." The King James Version tells us that God "inhabits" the praises of Israel. It doesn’t tell us that God inhabits the songs that they sing or the rituals they go through. God inhabits the praises of the people. It is possible to go through an order of worship on a program and never have real worship. Ps. 69:30-31, David writes, "I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving. This will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull with horns & hoofs." Our praise pleases God! 2 Chronicles 5:11-14 gives a great example of Old Testament worship where the presence of God comes upon the people. This is the chapter telling about the Ark of the Covenant being placed in the Temple. It tells us that the presence of God was so real that the priests could no longer minister. They simply sat down and they were all captured by the glory of God. Vs. 13-14 "When the song was raised, with trumpets & cymbals, & other musical instruments, in praise to the Lord, ‘For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever,’ the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God." How important is worship to you? Is it central in your life and family? How well do you prepare yourself to "come to church?" Some of you are so stressed out by the time you get your family to church, that you are 20-30 minutes into the hour, before you connect in with what is going on. You were here but you weren’t here. Does worship draw you closer to your God and King? The New Testament Sacrifice: Jesus Christ (Heb. 13:12) Jesus was sacrificed outside of the city and nothing but our lack of worship can keep us from His presence. When Jesus died for our sins, three things happened:
We have just inaugurated a new President and I’ve been wearied by the "expert analysis" of our news commentators more than I was bothered by the political rhetoric of the candidates during the election campaign and this past week. What would be said of Jesus if He had been running for political office? I’ve asked a couple of guys to represent a Pharisee and a Sadducee from Jesus’ time on earth. Pharisee: "Well, what did you think about Christ’s State of the Temple address?" Pharisee: "I don’t think I’m supporting Him. He’s going to need our financial backing to help sway the masses and I don’t think that His miracles are going to pull Him through." Sadducee: "Too many bad people seem to be following Him. This forgiveness He keeps talking about is too much. It’s going to be abused. It will never work." Pharisee: "What do you think about the way that he fed those 5000 men?" Sadducee: "I guess He does have a pretty good hunger program." Pharisee: "And the way people touched the hem of His robe and were healed?" Sadducee: "Yea, His health care program seems to be effective." Pharisee: "But He’s appealing to poor orphans and widows. That seems to be a very poor strategy for such an intelligent fellow." Sadducee: "It could be a smokescreen. The love He keeps talking about is not practical. He’s way too humble; too compassionate. He keeps talking about His Father too much & seems to go to Him with all of His problems. They even seem to be one." Pharisee: "You’re right. It seems so much so that it’s almost like they are the same person." Sadducee: "What do you think about His statements about loving your neighbor as yourself, loving your enemy, blessing those who curse you and doing good to those who mistreat you?" Pharisee: "His policies on adultery, divorce and murder—there is no way. Without the help of God Himself, you couldn’t maintain those standards." Sadducee: "I think He has His head in the clouds. He wants people to trust Him totally. People are just not going to do that. Even His closest followers will not trust Him when things get tough." Pharisee: "Yea, He’s 30 now…they’ll crucify Him before His four years are up. Sadducee: "Yea, His followers will all be gone within two years. No one will even remember Him after ten years." And no one would have remembered Him if He hadn’t risen from the dead. His resurrection provided for us faith and hope and, as a result, praise, worship, and intimacy with God took on a new meaning. Now, how is our sacrifice to be given to Him today? Today, Ours is a Sacrifice of Praise. (Heb. 13:13-17) Heb. 13:15 "Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name." Our praise is to be:
I know I talked about raising hands in worship some months back, but this article is a classic from Christianity Today magazine: It was entitled, "How We Handle Hand-Raising." "I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later, but who would’ve expected it from mild-mannered, rational Jim Mosley, one of our leading laymen? The guy raised not only one arm, but two during the first hymn. Now, Jim always sits close to the front so there was no hiding it. And we’re not talking about one of those half-hearted palms up at the waist to humor the song leader efforts. No, sir, those arms went all the way up. Mabel Zimmer saw it. She sits behind Jim, over to the left. When she saw him raise both hands, she wobbled a bit and grabbed the pew in front of her and finally had to sit down. Jim’s teenaged son buried his face even deeper than usual into the hymnal, while his sister turned to her friends with one of those ‘who is this guy’ looks. Our song leader fell two measures behind before he was able to collect himself and after church our pastor had an emergency meeting of the officers. ‘I’m not sure if y’all noticed Jim’s...uh…uh…expression of praise this morning. I’m not suggesting that what he did was out of place, but I thought we ought to discuss it in case any of you have any problems here.’ One of the officers said it didn’t really bother him, but he wondered what the visitors might think. Another officer allowed how he once felt like raising his hands, but he decided not to. No one came right out and said anything against raising hands, but one of the officers said, ‘At least we ought to appoint a committee to establish some of the guidelines for those who want to have such spiritual exuberance.’ The pastor asked for a show of hands of anyone who wanted to serve on such a committee. Too bad that Jim’s not an officer…not a hand was lifted." Whether it’s one hand, two hands, or no hands…whether it is singing out loud with your head lifted up or not…if you’re going to come into His presence…the sacrifice that we bring to Him is not one of animals. It isn’t Jesus, because He died once for all and that is all it took. It is done and finished. When we come to worship and bring a sacrifice… Come to Ingleside with a sacrifice of praise. Our "thank you" to God. Be ready to sing…music is not the preliminaries of worship. Worship is not a show…it is something we enter in to. I’m not going into the Holy of Holies, interceding for y’all, hoping that I can get some of you into Heaven. It’s already been done for you. As the Psalmist said, "Enter his gates with thanksgiving & his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name." Let’s stand and sing together! Please visit us at our next worship service.
In Christ,
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