The Call to Reverent Worship

0:16Thank you for listening to the Sermon Audio Podcast for Crossroads Bible Church in Rockdale, Texas. Crossroads Bible Church is a Reformed Confessional Baptist Church that meets every Lord's Day at 10 a.m. for Bible study and 11 a.m. for corporate worship. For more information about our church and for directions, you can find us online at www.crbcrockdale.org. Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Please, if you would, open to the book of Hebrews. We are finishing Hebrews chapter 12 this morning. And next week we'll begin chapter 13. Looking at the calendar, I do think we will finish Hebrews this year before we start with some Christmas and Christmas sermons. So that's good news. And that's the plan, Lord willing, but we will see. This week we're going to be those last few verses of that last section, chapter 12, verses 25, 29 to 29. We began last week talking about this call to be different, right? This call to be set apart. And that call included, as we said, a pursuit of peace, which is rare in our culture. We are, generally speaking, not very peaceful people. You can get on social media if you don't believe me. Everybody's bothered about something, generally. But we have a call to peace. We have a call to pursue peace. And that call, as we looked at last week, includes a call to holiness, without which we will not see the Lord. That's a call to uh, it's a corporate call, really, to minister to one another, to stand firm on truth, to flee sensual and worldly passions, and our walk to the holy city where Christ is dwelling and waiting for us. Today we continue that. We started last week with this call to be set apart, and that includes a call to listen to and to obey God's voice, his words. That includes also a call to reverence, more specifically, reverent worship. It entails, as we will see, an acknowledgement of the weight of the holiness of God, his glory, as we sung about today. That requires meditation. We also acknowledge then this morning the greatness of God, the power of God, and the judgment of God. And finally, we will look at the call for gratitude, thankfulness for having received so great a salvation. And all of that will try, Lord willing, my best to wrap up into this theme of our message this morning, which is the call to reverent worship. Call to reverence or call to reverent worship. So there's so much to get to this morning. That's all the intro I'm giving you. Stand up with me if you wouldn't mind as we read God's Word. Hebrews 12, starting in verse 25. See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens. This phrase yet once more indicates the removal of things that are shaken, that is, things that have been made, in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe. For our God is a consuming fire. This is the word of the Lord. We pray and ask that you would speak now for Christ's sake and for his glory. It's in his name that I pray. Amen. We will start back around then on verse 25. See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. When this happened originally, I'm fairly certain I mentioned it, but I bring it up again because it applies to our text this morning. Uh our vice president J.D. Vance got himself in a bit of hot water when he talked, this was a few months ago now, I suppose, maybe longer, about Ordo Amoris. Ordo amoris, ordered affections or ordered and loves. And that concept, probably said then, has roots all the way back to uh Augustine in the fourth century. And this posits that one of the keys to biblical, to a biblical and moral life is the proper ordering of our affections, of our loves. Put another way, you could say that biblical morality requires proper ordering of priorities. Biblical morality requires a proper ordering of priorities. And we know that what we love the most, we prioritize the most. It's obvious enough. What we love the most, we prioritize the most. You make time for the things that you treasure. And also the things that you prioritize are the things that you will love the most. I think it works in both directions. You both make time for the things that you love, and the things that you make time for are the things that you will love. So not just as Christians, which is obviously true, but as people in general, we must establish priorities. We must order our affections. Because we're not infinite creatures. We don't have unlimited resources like God, right? We don't create time. We don't create energy. If we commit time to something, it will necessarily take away time from something else. If we commit energy to something, it will necessarily take energy away from something else. And because of that reality, we must take very seriously what we commit our attention to. And this issue of establishing priorities is always troublesome. A man by the name of Charles Hummel. He was college president and he was ministry director at InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. He wrote, and I have not yet read it, but I did purchase it, a lengthy essay called The Tyranny of the Urgent. And quoting from that and from some commentary on the tyranny of the urgent, it says this he observes that matters of crucial importance can be pushed aside simply because of urgent concerns demand our attention. Observe that critical matters of crucial importance can be pushed aside simply because of urgent concerns that demand our attention. Priorities are always a matter of commitment and a measure of maturity. Further, he says, committed pilgrimage necessarily entails a concern with priorities. The pastor knows from experience that spiritual maturity does not evolve by itself. It is cultivated in response to the establishing of certain primary concerns. It is developed because a Christian has made the attainment of spiritual maturity a priority in his or her life. We don't stumble into sanctification, do we? That's a point we made many times walking through our book on spiritual disciplines. The urgency then from the text this morning is to listen to the voice of God speaking to his word today. Make that a priority. See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. And notice here, see that you do not refuse him who is speaking. That's a present tense word. Speaking. It does not say spoke. It does not say, see that you do not refuse him who has spoken. But rather, him who is speaking. The voice of God is speaking into your life today. God himself, in his triune fullness, is giving you wisdom today. He's guiding your thoughts today. He's enlightening your paths. He's correcting your sins. He's encouraging your weary soul. Do not refuse him who is speaking today. Make his voice a priority for you. Because it is through his word that we are brought into salvation, and it is through his word that we are brought into the fullness of maturity. It is through his word that we are assured of our ultimate salvation. It is a priority. It must be. Also, want to note from that first verse the word refuse. See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. That word in Greek is the same word that's used in Luke 14. Make some notes or make a mental note. Luke 14, read that when you get home. Christ tells a parable in Luke 14. My heading in my Bible called it the parable of the great banquet. But Jesus tells of a man who had a lavish banquet, and he invited many of his perhaps well-to-do friends to this banquet, but the text says that they all alike began to make excuses as to why they could not come to this banquet. One said, I've just bought a field and I need to go and see it. Another said, I've just bought five oxen and I have to go check on them. Another said, I've just been married. I can't make it, which maybe is a good enough excuse. In his anger, though, the man who is having this banquet feels snubbed, and he tells his servants to go in and bring in the crippled and the lame and the blind to the feast, since everyone else made excuses for not coming. And Jesus, of course, in that passage is speaking directly against the Jews who have refused him. But that same language and the same illustration is carried over for us to say that God is inviting you, he's inviting us to a banquet daily, whereby he refreshes us in his word, that we can come and dine with him and to receive him as our great host. Do you make excuses for not coming to him? Are you playing the victim and succumbing to the tyranny of the urgent? Do not refuse him. Where are your priorities? He who has an ear, let him hear the word of the Lord speaking today. And may it's my prayer for us all that we spend some time this week meditating on our priorities and see to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking to you. No excuses. Make him a priority. This carries with it a warning. Verse 25, or the second half of verse 25. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will they escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. If they didn't listen to God when he was speaking through Moses and didn't escape judgment, if they didn't listen to God when he is incarnate in the person of Christ on earth, if they didn't listen to him then and they didn't escape judgment, how much less will we escape judgment if we now have the voice of heaven, the fullness of time, the fullness of revelation given to us, who is still speaking to us, how much less will we escape judgment? Luke 12, verse 48 says, To whom much is given, much is required. You have been given much, church. Sent from heaven for the forgiveness of your sins, sent for your salvation. This has been given to you. This has been preserved for you in this sacred word that you now have sitting in your lap. How will you escape judgment if you refuse this word? If you deny this precious gospel. Much has been given and much is required. Verse 27, we're going to look at clinging to the unshakable. This phrase yet once more indicates the removal of the things that are shaken, that is, things that have been made, in order that the things that cannot be shaken will remain, or may remain, as my text says. So what does all of that that I just said have to do with reverent worship? Right? Our worship centers on the unshakable. Our worship centers on the unshakable, and what is unshakable, if not the inerrant, infallible, blessed word of God that he has preserved and given to us? If God is still speaking to us through his word, and if it is a priority for us to listen to his word, and if refusing his word is non-negotiable, then doesn't that apply to worship as well as life? That's a rhetorical question, of course it does. I'm going to read from our confession. This is on the regulative principle of worship, chapter 22.5. It says this, the reading of, talking about what can constitutes worship. The reading of scriptures, preaching, the hearing of the word of God, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord, as also the administration of baptism and the Lord's Supper are all parts of religious worship to God, to be performed in obedience to Him with understanding, faith, reverence, and godly fear. Moreover, solemn humiliation with fasting and thanksgiving upon special occasions ought to be used as a holy and religious manner. For those reasons, we make it a priority that God's word is unshakable in our worship. We don't prioritize interpretive dance. We don't prioritize a seven-piece band that's shaking the walls and a light show of things. We don't prioritize anything other than God's word. We don't prioritize anything that would ever distract us from the scriptures. We don't prioritize anything that would distract us from teaching, from the sacraments, from God's truth being said, from God's truth being sung, from God's truth being heard. Gratitude and thanksgiving. But there are people who say, but those things help me to get into worship, you know? They help me to have a worshipful experience. I contend that what we are saying when we say that, because I've been there, is that we want someone to spoon feed us an experience. We want it to be made easy to feel a certain way. We are putting a priority on an emotion or an experience as opposed to the voice of God who is speaking. That's not disciplined or unshakable, as our text says. True worship. Biblical worship is difficult. I'll say that again. True worship. Biblical worship is difficult. It's hard to do. It's not passive. It's not easy. Just like studying the scripture is difficult. A life of obedience is difficult. It's supposed to challenge your faculties. It's supposed to engage you. Engage your muse. Force you to not simply be ah-mused, but to be present, to be involved. It's calling you to focus, to engage. That's difficult for us, church. Most of us, myself included, cannot sit for an hour without checking an email, scrolling Facebook, clearing some notification or some email. I'm very bad about that. Young people have more trouble. Maybe. I don't know. We're all I say we've all been bitten by that dopamine bug. That amusement bug. Because we live in an amusing world. And the enemy makes every effort to crush our muse. That is our desire to be inspired by thoughtful consideration. Because what remains when heaven and earth is shaking? What remains when the heavens and the earth is shaken? The truth remains. The things of God remain. Not the things and the devices and the contraptions of man that have been made by man. But rather the things of God. The things that were built by him, that were devised by him, and that were constructed on his rock and his foundation. 1 Corinthians 3, verse 12. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold and silver and precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become manifest, for the day will disclose it. Because it will be Revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a woo a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. That's specifically talking about how we minister the gospel, how we sow the seeds, how we water the seeds, how we preach, how we teach, how we worship. We must use the best materials that we can. Those materials that are gold and silver and precious stones, God's word, read, sung, and taught in gratitude and in reverence. These are the best tools we can use. The best materials. Even gold, but a diamond for sure, when it's first pulled out of the ground, it just looks like a rock. You probably just throw it out and dismiss it. It doesn't look very good. But with effort, with persistence, with careful refinement, with diligent, that which would otherwise be unattractive becomes the most valuable and treasured possession in the world. IKEA furniture. I know all of y'all don't buy IKEA furniture, but it might look really great right out of the box. And often it does. But under that thin veneer is a flaky cardboard. Versus a solid wood table that ages and patinas and develops character and carries with it stories for ages. One is cheap and serviceable for now. The other is costly and takes time, effort, and maturity, and only gets better with age. What we are asking you as elders, what I am asking you, church, is to in your own heart and life and here in this congregation to build with us on that which is unshakable. With materials that are unshakable. Because for a time it may seem like there are better ways. For a time it may seem like there are quicker ways to grow and to build, more attractive experiences to have, more important things to focus on, better things to prioritize. Or we may think that those distractions aren't as disruptive as we think, and for a time that may be true. But church, wait till God is finished. Wait till we're finished. Put in the work together. Do not refuse his word. Make biblical worship a priority in your life, in your home, in your church. Let's clear the distractions. Let's clear the amusements. Let's refine the gold, the silver, and the precious stones, and you will see the beauty, the glory. That's not confidence in me or any human method or confidence in this church. That's confidence in God and in his word. And what he does through his unshakable word and truth. Verse 28 and 29. Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. And let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. Our response to Him, to His word is reverence and awe. And many pictures could illustrate this, but verse 29, where God is a consuming fire in context of this section. It seems like he is referring to the words of Moses in Deuteronomy, which I'll read that in just a second, but also can point to the fire by which God revealed himself to Moses when he originally called him and the command to take off his sandals, right? That the place that he was standing was holy ground, he was revealed himself as a consuming fire. This is a picture of God as a terrifying and awful God. Awful in a good way. And if we are to approach God in worship, that's the God that we come to. A terrifying and awful God. If you wish to be refreshed at the table of the Lord, you come not to a weak, soft, effeminate sort of host. You don't stroll to the throne of heaven with a Starbucks and a blueberry muffin. You're approaching a consuming fire. You're approaching the Lion of Judah. We like to think that Sunday church is a safe space. And it is. But it's safe because of the grace and mercy of our God. Our God is not safe to be around. He is holy. And his judgment and his wrath. Terrible. I do want to read this very quickly. One commentary I read made reference to this passage in a C.S. Lewis book, Silver Chair, speaking on this, and I'm going to read this very quickly. This is a character Jill when she meets Aslan, the lion, who is a representative of Christ the first time. Aslan asks her, Are you not thirsty? Because she is almost dying of thirst. I'm dying of thirst, said Jill. Then drink, said the lion. May I, could I, would you mind going away while I do? said Jill. The lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl, and as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well ask the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience. Will you promise not to do anything to me if I do come? said Jill. Make no promise, said the lion. Jill was so thirsty now that without noticing she had come a step nearer, do you eat girls? she said. I have swallowed up girls and boys and women and men and kings and emperors and cities and realms, said the lion. I dare not come and drink, said Jill. Then you will die of thirst, said the lion. Oh dear, said Jill, coming another step nearer. I suppose I must go and look for another stream then. There is no other stream, said the lion. This should make us grateful. All the more grateful that this same terrible God, who is so full of anger towards those who disobey, who is so full of wrath against those who reject him, to those who hunger, to those who thirst, to those who come to him, he says, Come to me. All who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. In that gratitude, then, in the presence of such a terrifying God, wouldn't we want to worship him in an acceptable manner? Interesting that we talked this morning about forgetting God. Deuteronomy 4, 22 to 24 said, Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make a carved image the form of anything that the Lord your God has forbidden you, for the Lord your God is a consuming fire and a jealous God. The language there makes the connection again between idolatry of Israel, their forgetting, and their idolatry with our worship today. To say that the unchanging God of Moses is the same God we worship today. And he is to be worshipped as he says in reverence and in awe. And if we worship some other version of the true God because we forget him, if we worship a God in our own image, we are quite literally poking the lion. God is a jealous God who commands us to worship him as he describes. And anything that lessens his glory, anything that distracts from his holiness, anything that minimizes his power and his authority, anything that puts attention upon man is unacceptable worship. Because there is a specific formula given for us in the text. Gratitude. Starts with gratitude, thankfulness for having received this salvation that He has given to us. Having received this immovable, unshakable kingdom which we were going to. And in that gratitude, then, we offer acceptable worship. And acceptable worship is characterized by two things in our text: reverence, which is holy fear, and awe, which is cautious devotion. Do we come here? And do we live lives that are under a holy fear and a cautious devotion? That is our call this morning. And every morning. So the call to be set apart is a call to make our holy God a priority. To make his word a priority in our lives and in our worship. It's to offer or to order our affections such that God and his glory come first, knowing that it is to his kingdom that we are going. This present world is so full of distractions, so full of urgencies, so full of priorities, and we're pulled in so many different directions, our call is to see to it that we do not neglect him who is speaking to us today. Or worship him in a way that is unworthy of his holiness, of his glory, and of his greatness. Because when we truly see God for who he is, and when we worship him in reverence, and we worship him in fear, as he has commanded us, only then can we truly see his kingdom, the unshakable kingdom where we are headed. And seeing that kingdom calls us to a grateful and to a holy life. I'll close with this, 2 Peter 3. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all things are thus to be dissolved, I'll say that again with emphasis. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness? Waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn, but according to his promise, we are waiting for a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. What sort of people ought we to be? What sort of worship ought we to give? What sort of priorities ought we to have? What sort of God is it that we worship? Think about those things this week. Do not refuse him who is speaking, church, and let us worship him acceptably in spirit and in truth with reverence and with all. Let us be thankful for this great salvation that he has given to us. Let us heed the call again for reverent worship and lives of holiness.

35:47Amen.

35:56Especially, Lord, when it convicts, Lord, when it calls us to think, to meditate, to press on to holiness, the unshakable kingdom which you have called us to, Lord, help us. Help us in our worship, Lord. May it be acceptable to you. If it is anything else, Lord, we pray and ask that our worship is acceptable to you. And we trust you. We trust that you, that when we build with those precious stones, gold and silver, though it is hard, though it takes time, that you will honor that and you will be glorified in that. So help us receive the call, reverent worship, our lives of holiness. Ask all these things in the name of Jesus.