The House of God

0:00Well, good morning again. Wonderful. Grab your Bibles and open to the book of Ecclesiastes. We'll be in chapter 5, verses 1 through 7 this morning. Chapter 5, verses 1 through 7. We're likely going to take a break from Ecclesiastes for a couple weeks leading up to Christmas. But my plan, Lord willing, is to stick where we are, obviously, for this week and then next week, and I'll give you an update next week on what the focus will be for those two weeks following or leading up to Christmas. I'll give you a hint. It's probably going to be centered around the birth of Christ, on the hope of his incarnation and peace offered, right? So there you go. There's your hint. For this week, though, the teacher of Ecclesiastes changes up some things on us here. He has a slight detour this morning to focus in on our reverence of God. We've talked about it this morning a little bit providentially in Sunday school, and it seems that we've been talking about this a lot with this idea of reverence to God. Basically, every week to this point has been a reinforcement of what we said was the general thesis of this book, which is apart from God, we gain nothing. Apart from God, we gain nothing. We drilled down into the various uh aspects of our lives from our relationships to our work to our understanding of time. That was a few weeks ago, uh, to our behaviors, uh, to see that what we are doing, whatever we are doing, if God is not at the center of it, it's vanity and chasing after the wind. With that as our supporting backdrop uh this morning, the teacher now turns our attention to our worship. To our worship. If it is true that apart from God we gain nothing, then isn't that also true with our worship? If God, as the center of all things, is the only way we find any sort of meaning and fulfillment, then it should stand to reason that such an important person deserves our full reverence. Right? So that's what we're going to consider this morning through our text. So I know you just sat down as always, but stand with me again, if you wish, to the uh to uh to read our text this morning. This is Ecclesiastes 5, verses 1 through 7. Guard your steps when you go to the house of the Lord. To draw near to listen is to better than better than to offer sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that what they are doing, that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. For a dream comes with much business, and a fool's voice with many words. When you vow a vow to God, do not delay in paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say for the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands? For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity. But God is the one you must fear. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you again for your word. We pray now and ask that you would speak for Christ's sake, and it is in his name that I pray. Amen. You all can be seated. Thank you. Come casual, is what it said. I can only assume that this meant how you are dressed, as opposed to your attitude in worship, but the two are at least somewhat connected, aren't they? I also assume that this was meant to be a suggestion as opposed to a command about the best way to dress when attending their church. Surely that church would not want to fall into legalism by presuming that casual attire is the best dress for entering the house of the Lord. I'm also curious how one would be received if they walked into a come casual church wearing a suit or a jacket. Would they be welcomed? Or would they be told, excuse me, sir, could you change into a t-shirt? You're making the other guests uncomfortable. I'll say it again, the church has an issue with reverence. Before you assume that I'm slipping into legalism on the other side, I don't believe that the types of fabrics that we wear necessarily communicate are reverence, right? I do think there is a line somewhere where our attire becomes irreverent, and perhaps we could disagree about that line and talk about that. But what we can say is that wool isn't intrinsically more holy than denim or cotton, right? We can also say, more often than not, there is a connection between the external and the internal disposition of our hearts. Matthew 15, verse 18. But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart. Those who pitch their church by saying, oh, it's great. It's great. It's very casual. We are a come as you are kind of people. Almost certainly have an equally casual view of God. And why is that the pitch, anyway? Why aren't those well-dressed, right? This is their thoughts, we aren't those well-dressed, stuffy religious people. We dress down to make sinners feel more comfortable. I guess it's assumed that sinners or unbelievers don't dress nicely or prefer to be casual. Do you see how pretentious and unbiblical that is? It's as if they're patting poor sinners on the head saying, don't worry, worldly sinner, we'll dress like you so you'll feel more comfortable here. I say all that not to tell you how to dress here. I don't particularly care how you dress. Wear a t-shirt, wear a tie. But however you are dressed, do not come here casual. The text says as much in chapter 5, verse 1. It says, Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. We get a glimpse of what the teacher is really getting at from books like Malachi. God was requiring Israel to come to his temple and offer their best sacrifices. But in the spirit of pragmatism, they were bringing sickly and lame animals that they couldn't really use themselves. It's just a sacrifice, right? It's just a sacrifice. So why does it really matter about the condition of the animal? As a result, God cursed the worshipers. Quote, cursed be the cheat who has a male in the flock and vows to give it and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. Thanks be to God. That his sacrifice. The one he brought forth on your behalf was the spotless, unblemished Lamb of Christ. He sent forth his perfect son to pay the blood debt that we owe. And in doing so makes righteous propitiation for our sins. He wipes away our sins by the perfect sacrifice of Christ. And in return, we bring him often a self-centered, blemished, lame excuse for worship. Israel did not rightly consider their reverence to the Lord nor the vows that they made to him, and they considered it perfectly acceptable to come casual into the house of the Lord. And what do we presume that we are doing here anyway? Are you just here for a hangout with your friends? Are you here to check a box so that you can feel better about yourself having come to church? Are you here because you think God needs your sacrifice of one to two hours of your time every week? What a blemished sacrifice such an offering would be, anyway. If our dear brother Sprohl was with us, he would likely have the same famous five words for our most congregations in America today. What's wrong with you people? Our gracious God offers us so much more than that. When Christ declared it's finished on the cross, the veil of the holy of holies, a separation between God and man, was torn, such that everyone now has free access to the holy God. The one holy God of all things. Further, because Christ was the perfect and final sacrifice, we don't have to be burdened with making atonement for our own sins. This has been done for us. That's really great news, right? But it comes with a warning. Not that you ever could, but most certainly now, you cannot hide from the presence of God. You cannot hide from the presence of God. When this church is gathered, we have the promise that God is in our midst. Does your reverence match the reality that God is with us in this place right now? Have you sat with that? I mean, have you really thought about that? That God is here. When God came into the presence of Moses back in Exodus, he says, remove the sandals from your feet. For the place that you are standing is holy ground. In essence, God tells Moses, guard your steps. You are now in the presence of God. This is the place where our God meets with us collectively. This is the place where he leans in close to hear our prayers, to hear our worship, in a unique and particular way. This is the place where the sweet sound of our praise and the cries of our heart are not thrown up flippantly. Not thrown up flippantly that maybe he will hear them. He hears them. He hears us now because he is here among us. Truly the ground on which we stand is holy ground. May the Lord help us to take his presence seriously. We can certainly say amen to that. So I trust that we have sufficiently established the necessity of guarding our steps. I hope that I have sufficiently caused you to maybe sit up a little bit straighter, maybe. Fortunately for us, God has more to tell us in the text. Let's now turn our attention to the ways in which we guard our steps and show reverence to God in his house. And that is starting in verse 2. Actually, the second half of verse 1. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifices of fools, for they do not know what they are doing, or that they are doing evil. The first way in which we guard our steps when we come into the house of God is to listen first. To listen first. The sacrifice of fools is the one who assumes that God is pleased with you simply by you coming here. The one whose motivation is not to come to intently listen to what God has to say to them, but to check off that sacrificial box. Do you see the difference there then? I would be unfaithful to God and to you if I enticed you to come to church both by lowering God's standards or suggesting that simply by coming here, you have done us and God a favor. Just come to our church. Just come. It's light, it's casual. Lots of fellowship, hanging out with friends. We'd be so blessed if you were here. Have great coffee. Wink wink. We'll get you out in time to watch the Cowboys at noon. You chuckle. That's how we do church. That's how we do church. So we peel ourselves out of bed on Sunday, put something comfortable on. We stroll in here, we get our coffee, we sit in our seats, we chat with friends, half pay attention to the songs, maybe a third pay attention to the sermon, because it's probably boring. And then we go home. We make it back to the couch, we get to get the TV on, we smile, and we feel better about ourselves having blessed God by showing up on Sunday. Might even say, I'm actually a pretty good guy. Most other guys I know would have just slept in, but I went to church. You know, yeah, I'm a pretty good guy. I can almost guarantee you that internal, that internal monologue plays out in the heads of millions of people every week. Church, you know I tell you the truth. So I'm not going to stop now. That is the sacrifice of fools. If you found yourself falling into that, please repent. Return to Christ. That's sin. Come to the house of God to draw near and to listen. Come to the house of God to draw near and to listen. When else in your week are the very words of God spoken to you? When else do you have the opportunity to gather with your fellow saints in the presence of our holy God and listen to his promises? Where else can you hear that despite your propensity to wonder, your great shepherd, the great shepherd, has sought you in the dark and found you? He has rescued you from your own foolishness. He offers eternal riches and glory if you would only trust in him. Where else can you hear that this great Savior wishes to wipe every deer from your eye and heal every pain and exchange those for everlasting joy and peace to the praise of his glorious name? I know you've heard that before. But have you been listening? Have you really been listening? Have you drawn near to receive those blessed promises? Do you come here each week saying, Oh, tell me again that good news. Holy Father, speak to me again that I might hear your promises and be refreshed by your voice. And the swirling winds of life, you may not think you need that, but you do. And this is why we come. Enter into the presence of God and hear him speak. Hear him speak. Secondly, I'm going to read, starting in verse 2, be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God. For God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few, for a dream comes with much business, and a fool's voice with many words. There are several widely known rules that apply when meeting any royalty. I suppose it applies to any royalty, but it's certainly true with the now Pasquine of England, Elizabeth II. And one of those was that you never speak unless you're first spoken to. This was a sign of respect and authority for that stature and position. And this kind of respect for authority is really wholly lost on us in America, but this is precisely the kind of respect that our text demands. The second way in which we guard our steps when we go into the house of the Lord is to let our words be few. I hope you see this recurring theme then of reference that we're talking about. The text says, be not rash with your mouth. What does that mean? A rash is a lack of consideration for the consequences of one's actions. Lack of consideration for the consequences of one's actions. So to be rash with one's mouth would be to speak without considering both what you are saying and who you are speaking to, or really even the possible consequences from what you are saying. Why does the teacher think we should use caution when we speak in God's house? Does he sell us that? Yes, he does. He says, because God is in heaven and you are on earth. God is elevated far above you. If we understand royal reverence and wouldn't dare approach English royalty without the proper forethought, and would not flippantly speak on at length before we are spoken to, how much more should this apply when we enter into the presence of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords? Matthew 6, 7 and 8. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them. For your father knows what you need before you ask him. Often when my kids, usually only Charlotte now, but some of them still, when they want to ask me something, they're a little afraid to ask it. They usually come into my office if I'm there, and they'll stand at the door there, entrance to my office, and they'll endlessly set up the thing that they're asking, right? With this long list of qualifying statements and explanations. I usually cut them off and say, like, I know what you're getting at. Just yes, go ahead. Yes, that's fine. And often we think that all the extra words are somehow helping our cause, right? This is not true, right? And in the case of our Heavenly Father, he knows what you need. So just ask him. Just ask him. It's not as though our God ever grows weary of our hearing, or of hearing us call out to him. It's not as though he ever becomes impatient with our words, but it's about this posture before our God. Do we come before him heaping up empty phrases and meaningless plastic? Or do we bow our heads in holy reverence and speak to him clearly and directly? Just as sure as a mountain of worldly concerns and stress will lead to restless dreams in the night, as our text says, so a fool's voice will lead to many useless, irreverent words. Pray to God with reverence and directness. That's how we pray. And finally, I'm going to go to verse 4. When you vow a vow to God, do not delay in paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands? For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity. But God is the one you must fear. The third and final way we guard our steps in the house of God is by keeping our vows. Keeping our vows. The most obvious and serious biblical example of this comes to us from Acts chapter 5, and I'll read this section very quickly. We talked about this again in Bible study, but you know the story. But a man named Ananias and his wife Savirus sold a piece of property, and with his wife's knowledge, he kept back some of it for himself, the proceeds, and brought only part of it and laid it at the apostle's feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself some proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was soul, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have lied, you have not lied to man but to God. We know the rest of the story. God struck them both dead right there in the house of God. Not because they held back some of the money, right? It was their money. They could have done whatever they wanted to with it. But because they did not keep their vow, they lied. They vowed to the Lord that if they sold the land, they would give him all of the money, but they did not do what they told God that they would do. And this cost them their life. Our God is not a company shareholder who you can influence with empty promises. Our God's economy is not a market you can manipulate with unrealistic optimism. He knows you. He knows your heart. Be honest with him. Be real. Be very careful and thoughtful with your vows. Because if you vow it, you better pay it. So when we package this final thought along with our earlier ones, that we should enter into his house with reverence, listening first, with few words, we get a full picture of how we guard our steps in the house of God. We should approach him not casually, but respectfully and reverently as our Lord and Savior. We should come to his house with anticipation to hear what he has to say to us. We should be careful with our words and use them wisely. And that includes not over-promising and under-delivering. At the root of all this is, of course, our reverence. It's our reverence. And I can't close this morning any better than this, so I'm just going to quote this commentator, Sidney Greidness, is his name. He says, We should worship God in his house with reverence. Reverence for God will cause us to guard our steps when we go to the house of God. Reverence for God will cause us to draw near, to listen rather than to blabber like fools. Reverence for God will cause us to not be rash with our mouth. Reverence for God will cause us to not delay fulfilling any promises we have made to God. Reverence for God will cause us not to come up with lame excuses for not fulfilling our promises. In short, reverence for God will make our worship truly awesome. End quote. I don't know about y'all. But I don't want our worship to be casual. I want it to be awesome. Amen. And I pray that the Lord will do that for us. Let's pray. Lord, we come before you this morning with reverence, Lord. Confessing that at times we are not that way. Lord, I pray and ask that you would forgive us for that. Lord, I pray and ask that you would cultivate in our hearts by your Spirit a desire to come to this place on Sunday mornings to draw near to listen. That you may hear our prayers, Lord, our worship, that we may hear from you through your word. Help us to have a right understanding of who our God is, of what you've done for us, of how holy you are. Lord, may we come with that mindset each and every morning. We thank you again, Lord, for Christ, for this time of welcoming Him, Lord, through this birth that we celebrate this season, Lord, and we pray now as we go into this time of supper. Lord, may we confess our sins to you. May we see that you have forgiven us, Lord. And in this time may we proclaim the death of Christ. We ask all these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.