The Church: Its Meaning - The Place for the Worship of God, Part 1

This morning we want to continue our study on the meaning of the church and we have covered six points with you and today we're going to cover point number seven or at least introduce it to you and that is the fact that the church is the place of the worship of God. The other six points are on the outline or on the screen behind me if you haven't been with us that's what we have covered up to this point and we'll continue to cover this all throughout the fall as we look at the meaning of the church.

But the church is the place of the worship of God. I want to introduce this to you by taking you all the way back to the book of Exodus. So if you have your Bible turn with me to Exodus chapter twenty.

Exodus chapter twenty is a very familiar passage to those of us who have been in the church. It's all about the ten commandments. And so in Exodus chapter twenty, God gives Moses those commandments. And you will notice that in the commandments there is one specific commandment that comes with a promise of blessing and that's commandment number five.

Those who honor their mother and father will be blessed in a very particular kind of way. But there is only one commandment that comes with a specific penalty. Only one. And the one that is given to us with a penalty is of utmost importance. So the Bible says in Exodus twenty verse number one, then God spoke all these words saying, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

Before God gives the commandments, He tells you what He's done. He wants them to understand that He has already brought them out. He's already delivered them. He's already rescued them. He's already moved them out of bondage. And then He's going to give them the commandments. Commandment number one.

You shall have no other gods before me. None. For I am preeminent. I am the only God. You shall have no other gods before me. And then He says this, commandment number two.

You shall not make for yourselves an idol or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them. For I the Lord your God am a jealous God. Here's the penalty. Visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate me.

What an incredible statement that is. To unpack all of this on a Sunday morning would take a myriad of Sunday mornings. To help understand what God is saying, He says in commandment number one, I'm going to talk to you about the who of worship.

Commandment number two, I'm going to talk to you about the how of worship. Commandment number one, He forbids the worship of any other God.

He forbids it. Commandment number two, He forbids the false worship of God. In other words, He forbids the worship of the right God the wrong way. That's very important to understand. First of all, there is no other God before me, besides me.

You should only worship me, I am the Lord your God. Yet when you worship me, if you tend to worship the right God in the wrong way, the penalty is excruciating. In Exodus chapter 20, the first commandment deals with the preeminence of God.

The second commandment deals with the person of God. He is preeminent because He is the only God. But this only God is a jealous God. Because He is the only one to be worshipped, to worship someone else incurs the penalty of God. Or to worship Him the wrong way incurs the penalty of God. So, God has a monopoly on worship because He is the only one to be worshipped. The question comes, do you worship the true God the right way or the wrong way? Because to worship in the wrong way incurs the penalty of God upon the second, third, and fourth generation.

It's not talking about the guilt of sin, it's talking about the consequences, the results of sin that affect the family because you've worshipped the right God the wrong way. How do we better understand that? Well turn with me to your Bible to 2 Chronicles chapter 26.

When Esteban was preaching a number of weeks ago he mentioned Uzziah and it struck a chord with me in thinking this is the way I should introduce this point of the series. In 2 Chronicles chapter 26 the Bible says in verse number 3, Uzziah was 16 years old when he became king and he reigned 52 years in Jerusalem and his mother's name was Jechaliah of Jerusalem.

He did right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father Amaziah had done. He continued to seek God in the days of Zechariah who had understanding through the vision of God and as long as he sought the Lord God prospered him. What a great beginning. But you know in Christianity like in life it's not how you begin it's how you finish, right? And Uzziah began great and God continued to prosper him because he sought the Lord. His army began to grow and he became more and more powerful and more and more strong over time.

So you come to verse 16 of 2 Chronicles 26. But when he became strong his heart was so proud that he acted corruptly. He was unfaithful to the Lord his God. When he became strong he became so proud that he acted unfaithful toward his God. Remember Jonah chapter 2 verse number 8, that those who regard vain idols will always forsake their faithfulness. Uzziah began to regard that which was empty, that which was vain, his own strength, his own power. He thought he was pretty good. So good, it says, that he entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.

Then Azariah the priest entered after him with him eighty priests of the Lord, valiant men. They opposed Uzziah the king and said to him, it is not for you Uzziah to burn incense to the Lord but for the priests, the sons of Aaron who are consecrated to burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary for you have been unfaithful and will have no honor from the Lord God. Uzziah you can't do this. You can't come in here and worship our God, the one true God, the way you want to worship him. You just can't come in here and do your own thing.

You just can't come in here and set aside God's prescription for worship. You can't do that Uzziah. You have no authority. Eighty priests, eighty valiant men come in and say stop. You can't do this. So the Bible says in verse number nineteen, but Uzziah with a censer in his hand for burning incense was enraged and while he was enraged with the priests the leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord beside the altar of incense.

Verse twenty-one, King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death and he lived in a separate house being a leper for he was cut off from the house of the Lord and Jotham his son was over the king's house judging the people of Israel. The priests came in and said Uzziah you cannot do this. You can't worship the right God in the wrong way. And Uzziah was enraged. Don't tell me how to worship my God. Don't tell me I can't worship my God my way. Don't do that. I can do whatever I want to do. I'm the king.

And if I want to worship God by offering incense on the altar of incense that's exactly what I'm going to do. Uzziah wanted to worship his God any way he wanted to worship him. Don't tell me how to worship God. I'm the king. And God struck him with leprosy. And he was ousted from the house of the Lord for the rest of his life. That's quite a punishment. But you see in order to understand Exodus twenty you must understand Jotham his son. For the Bible says in verse twenty, chapter one, chapter twenty-seven verse number one, Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became king and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem.

His mother's name was Yerusha the daughter of Zadok. He did right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father Uzziah had done. However he did not enter the temple of the Lord. So his father who misused the house of God has a son who refused to enter the house of God. Maybe he was a little bitter on how God treated his dad. Maybe he wasn't pleased with the penalty that God invoked upon his father. All we know is that he did not enter the house of the Lord where his father misused the house.

He refused to go to the house of God. Read further in verse number two it says, but the people continued to act corruptly.

Of course they will. Why? Like priests like people. If the king is not going to enter the house of the Lord why should the people enter the house of the Lord? If the king is not going to worship the Lord why would the people worship the Lord? So they would continue to act corruptly. He has this opportunity to lead the nation in the right way to help them understand the beauty of true and pure and holy worship. But no, he is not going to do that. So he refused to go to the house of the Lord. A father who misused worship has a son who refused to worship.

Verse 9 of chapter 27, Jotham slept with his fathers and they buried him in the city of David. Ahaz the son became king in his place. This is the third generation.

Ahaz was 20 years old, chapter 28 verse number 1, when he became king and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. And he did not do right in the sight of the Lord as David his father had done. But he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He also made molten images for the Baals. Moreover he burned incense in the valley of Ben-Hinnom and burned his sons in fire according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had driven out before the sons of Israel. He sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills and under every green tree.

Verse 22, now in the time of his distress the same king Ahaz became yet more unfaithful to the Lord, for he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus which had defeated him and said, because the gods of the kings of Aram helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me. But they became the downfall of him and all Israel. Moreover when Ahaz gathered together the utensils of the house of God, he cut the utensils of the house of God in pieces. And he closed the doors of the house of the Lord and made altars for himself in every corner of Jerusalem.

In every city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods and provoked the Lord the God of his fathers to anger. Where one man, King Uzziah misused the house of God had a son named Jotham and he refused to go to the house of God. When his son became king he abused the house of God by destroying the utensils and slamming the doors shut so no one else could worship the true God. And thus he pursued idolatry and went after other gods. So you have a father who misused worship, who has a son who refuses to worship, who has a son, which is the grandson of Uzziah, who abuses worship and pursues other gods so much so that he takes the great-grandsons of Uzziah and sacrifices them on pagan altars, visiting the iniquity of the father upon the second, third, and fourth generation.

You think that worship is not important? And do you think that the way you worship is not important? You have missed everything when it comes to the worship of the one true God. It is absolutely essential that you do things the way God has prescribed them to be done. For if you don't, the consequences are grave. The blessing though, if you go back to Exodus chapter 20, but showing loving-kindness, verse 6, to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments. In other words, to those who love me and keep my commandments and worship me the way I'm to be worshipped, honor me the way I'm to be honored, well, the succeeding generations will only be blessed.

It's the mercy of God, it's the grace of God being extended from generation to generation to generation. So when we come to understand that the church is the place of the worship of God, we must come to understand the essential nature of the church and all that God is doing in and among His people. The Bible says, in John chapter 4, that God seeks true worshipers.

That's who He seeks. Doesn't seek false worshipers, seeks true ones. Those who worship Him in spirit and in truth. Those who worship God from the heart in obedience to what God has said. You worship from the inside out, not the outside in. And you worship from the inside out because there's been a changed heart. And so because there's been a changed heart, you are subjecting that heart to the truth of the living God. That's worshiping God in spirit and in truth. Over in the book of Philippians, the third chapter, the third verse, Paul gives us the best definition of a Christian in the Scriptures.

In 1 Corinthians 1, verse number 2, he gave us the best definition of the church in the Scriptures. We talked about that a couple of weeks ago. But in Philippians chapter 3, verse number 3, he gives us the best definition of a Christian. It says in verse 3 of chapter 3, for we are the true circumcision. We are the true marked ones. We have been marked out by truth. Who worship in the spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. That's what a Christian is. He worships in the spirit of God.

He glories only in Christ Jesus and he puts absolutely no confidence in his flesh. That is the best definition of a Christian in the Scriptures. And Paul says that a Christian is defined by how he worships because he worships God in spirit. So important. In fact, the psalmist says in Psalm 96, these words, verse number 9, worship the Lord in holy attire, tremble before him all the earth. That's the same as worshiping God in spirit and in truth. Worship the God in holy attire. What is holy attire?

Does that mean when you worship God, you got to wear a suit? When you worship God, do you have to wear a tuxedo? When you worship God, do you have to wash your clothes before you put them on and go to church? What do you mean worship the Lord in a holy attire? I told you last week, we all had different clothes, but we all had the same robe. That's in Isaiah 61, verse number 10. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul will exalt in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has wrapped me with the robe of righteousness.

As a bridegroom decks himself with garland and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. God has clothed me in robes of righteousness. And so when the Bible says, worship the Lord in the holy attire, it means that there is a spiritual attire that you are wearing and the spiritual attire you wear are the robes of righteousness.

In other words, you have been cleansed by God, you are now right before God, you've been justified before him, and now you fear his name. Why? There is forgiveness with God that thou mayest be feared. The only ones who fear the name of God are those who worship God in the purity of his holiness, because in the purity of his holiness, all you see is your unworthiness and it strikes the fear of God in you. And that's what it means to worship God in spirit and in truth. We want to go to church and laugh and play and do all kinds of things.

But do you go to church to recognize how unworthy you are before a holy God? And how because of his grace and mercy you can even stand before him? And because of his magnificent love he can embrace you and make you a part of his family that you might be called a child of the king. It should cause you to tremble before him. That's why the Bible says in Isaiah 66 verse number 2, to this man will I look?

To him who is broken and of a contrite heart and who trembles at my word, who shakes uncontrollably under the authority of the word of the living God. I wonder if you worship the true God the right way. There are several components to that. I want to unfold them for you this week and next week to help you understand what the Bible says concerning our worship of the king.

Worship is not a small topic. It's a huge topic. So we're just going to briefly cover some things because it's just one point of our outline. But the church is the place of the worship of God. In other words, the Spirit of God indwells us, our hearts. He resides within us. And that redeemed humanity, that redeemed people who live under the rulership of their Redeemer, under the reign of their king, are the only ones who can worship him in spirit and in truth. No one else can. So what are the components to worshiping the right God the right way?

Number one is this. There needs to be a preparation of the soul. A preparation of the soul. If we are to worship God in spirit and in truth, then there needs to be the inner man that is right with the true and living God. There's a preparation of the soul. Most of us don't even begin to think about this. Most of us think that when we come to church, there's going to be a time that we're going to prepare you to worship God. That is not true. We are not here to prepare you to worship God. If you're not prepared before you get here, we can't prepare you once you're here.

The work is done before you arrive. The preparation of your soul happens before you ever enter the house of the living God, before you ever enter the assembly of the redeemed, before you ever come together as a body of Christ to worship the King. There should already have been a preparation of the soul. One thing about the Jewish people, they got this part right. They prepare the night before. They begin at sundown the night before because they know how valuable the Sabbath day is. Now whether they do it right or wrong, that's another story because they do it wrong.

But the fact of the matter is, they had the right idea to prepare their hearts before the next day, the day of the Sabbath. I'm not saying that you necessarily got to prepare your heart Saturday night, and you can't do that. I'm just saying that the soul must be prepared before you ever enter the assembly of the redeemed to worship the King. Solomon says it this way, Ecclesiastes 5 verse number 1, guard your steps as you go to the house of God. Watch out. Watch out. Be on the alert. Pay attention.

Why? Because worship is not for the non-attentive. Worship is not for the lazy. Worship is not for the absent-minded. Guard your steps as you go to the house of God. Watch out. Be on the alert. Be vigilant as you go to the house of God and draw near to listen.

You can't listen if you're lazy. You can't listen if you're absent-minded. You can't listen if you're distracted. You can't listen if you're preoccupied with someone else who's in the room outside the Lord, or you're preoccupied with what you're doing after the service. Guard your steps because you're going there to listen.

In other words, God is going to speak. Are you prepared to listen? His Word speaks to us. His Word gives us our marching orders. His Word gives us His commandments. His Word tells us who He is. Do you know Him? Do you understand Him? Do you grasp Him? Do you get Him? Are you here to listen? Guard your steps, Solomon says, as you go to the house of the Lord because you go there to listen.

And if you're preoccupied with someone in the room, preoccupied with what you're doing after the house of God, if you are absent-minded as you approach God, if you're lazy, if you're not attentive, you won't be able to hear what God has to say. And worship is a human response to divine revelation. I can't respond unless I know what God says, and therefore I must understand His words.

And so Solomon makes it very clear in the book of Ecclesiastes. He says, guard your steps as you go to the house of God and draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know they are doing evil. Wow. Sacrifice of fools. Offering something up to God, but you don't mean it. He says, do not be hasty in words or impulsive in thought to bring up a matter in the presence of God, for God is in heaven and you are on the earth. Therefore, let your words be few. In other words, this is a matter of perspective.

God is preeminent. He's overall. He's in heaven. You're on earth. He's so far above you. He hears the inaudible. He sees the invisible. He's the living God of the universe. So don't be too hasty to bring up a matter to God if you haven't listened to what God has said. Verse 4, when you make a vow to God, don't be late in paying it, for He takes no delight in fools. Pay what you vow. Make sure you listen correctly, because if you go there and you make a vow, say, God, okay, I'm going to do this. I'm going to respond this way.

I'm going to love my wife better than I've ever loved her before. Lord, I'm going to love you more than I've ever loved you before. Lord, I'm going to make sure I go out and share the gospel with everybody I come in contact with. Don't be making a vow to God unless you're going to pay that vow. God takes what you say seriously. He takes you at your word. So it says, it is better that you should not vow than that you should not vow and not pay. Do not let your speech cause you to sin. And do not say in the presence of the Messenger of God that it was a mistake.

In other words, don't say, I made a vow, but you know what? It was a mistake. I was too young when I made the vow. It was just too rash. I didn't think it through enough. It was a mistake. No, don't say that. Why should God be angry on the account of your voice and destroy the work of your hands? For in many dreams and in many words there is emptiness. Rather, fear God. That's the bottom line. That's why it says at the very end, it sums up everything, fear God, keep His commandments. Do you fear Him?

In other words, the soul needs to be prepared. And there's a preparation of the soul that allows you to listen to what God has to say. Without that preparation, you'll sit, it'll go in one ear and out the other, and you will not follow the Lord God. So what does that look like? What does the preparation of the soul look like? How does that happen? Well, we'll have to do that next week. So wait a minute, Pastor, how do I come prepared next week if I don't know how to prepare myself? God will give you the grace to do that, because if you're willing to come back, you're willing to get your heart prepared before the Lord to hear what He has to say.

Let's pray together. Father, we thank You for today. Lord, You are a great God. Forgive us, Lord, for not taking You serious. Forgive us, Lord, for playing at church, playing at Christianity, not being serious about fearing the true and living God. Our prayer, Father, is that as we gather together, Lord, You would always instruct us in the way that we should go. The people that are here today, Lord, are here because they truly want to worship You the right way. And I pray for them, Lord, that You give them strength and wisdom.

They want to hear from You. They want to follow You. They want to serve You. They want to worship You. They are the true circumcision, those marked out by God, who worship You in spirit, who glory only in You, and want to put no confidence in their flesh. Give us the grace to accomplish that every day, Lord, that we might live for You until You come again, as You most surely will. In Jesus' name, amen.