Wrong Worship

Bibles

Hook

As we get closer to the Christmas season, many of you will begin to increasingly think about what gifts you are going to be buying people. Some of you are great gift givers. You think in detail about the person and search far and wide for a gift that will honor the one receiving it, and ensure that the receiver feels the love and respect that you have for them.

But what if this Christmas, I got really excited and got my wife two tickets to an American football game?

What if I decided that this Christmas, I would not hold any expense back, and bought us tickets to green-bay Wisconsin to watch the Greenbay packers play in the playoffs this year?

I spent a lot of money.

It would be a financial sacrifice.

It would be a time sacrifice, since it would mean being away for several days.

Surely she would feel lots of love and feel honored by this gift right?

The problem is, Whitney is not a Greenbay packers fan, I am.

Sure, I spent a lot of money, and sure, she would have some fun, but I am not loving her in the way she desires to be loved.

This would clearly be act of selfishness, not love.

This would be to honor myself, not my wife.

If we are not careful however, we can be guilty of the same mistake in our love and worship to God.

Are we worshiping God the way He has given us to worship Him?

Or have we crafted our own ideas of God and begun to worship that instead?

That is the mistake that Israel made at the foot of mount Sinai.

So this is what I want to talk about today.

The main idea of today’s teaching is this…

"While God gives us some freedom in how we worship, He has also provided clear commands about the focus and heart of our worship. Therefore, our worship must be both Biblical and God-centered."

It is important to see that we do have imense freedom in Christianity in how we go about worshiping God. I don’t want to limit worship to the music, because this entire year has been trying to hammer the point to you that worship is more than just worship music, but I will use it as an example of our freedom.

There are a wide range of musical styles that we can sing in, with a wide range of instruments.

If you worshiped with us at City Church on Easter this year, you heard many different styles of music, and it was all worship.

But we can’t get confused by this freedom and start to think that anything goes.

We can’t take our freedom and twist is to say “as long as our hearts are in the right place, then God will honor it “

Do you remember when we were preaching on the Ark of the Covenant being brought into Jerusalem? The hearts of the people were focussed on praise, their motives were set on praise, but they disobeyed God in how they should go about their praise when they tried to move the Ark of the Covenant in the wrong manner and it ended in death.

We must come to God in worship knowing who He is and worshiping who He is,

or our worship is not worship at all,

regardless how sincere our motives may be.

So with that in mind, my goal this morning is to show you how Israel allowed their impatience to lead to idolatry and syncretism which brought the wrath of God, tempered only by His own great Mercy.

We will do this by simply going through the story together.

We will then take some time to see how these truths can be applied to us today.

So let us begin by looking at the context of our story this morning.

I. Knowing the Story

Context to the story.

Last month, I spoke on God giving Israel the ten commandments, and made a covenant with them, saying he would remain with them, but they must be Holy as He is Holy.

Then Rick showed us how God gave Israel

a place to worship,

priest to lead in worship,

and a Sabath to find rest in our worship.

All of this was given to Moses while He was on the mountain for forty days.

But what was happening at the foot of the mountain during these forty days?

We see this in the beginning of chapter 32.

Exodus 32:1 ESV

1 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”

The people of Israel,

who had seen ten plagues hit Egypt,

including the passover,

the same people who had crossed the red sea on dry ground and have been fed by manna and water from a rock…

These same people,

who had just witnessed all of this,

were now impatient.

They had gotten used to the great power and blessings of God and were now tired of waiting on His own timing.

They wanted Moses to come down now.

They wanted to move into the promise land now.

This impatience,

this heart focussed on themselves,

instead of the God who led them out of Egypt,

led them to Rebell against their Savior.

They went to Aaron, Moses’ own brother and said, clearly this whole thing with Moses is not working out.

Who knows what has happened to him, and it is time that we move on.

What did Aaron do?

Did he rebuke the people?

Did he tell the Elders of Israel to better lead those under them?

No, he followed instead of led.

Exodus 32:2–3 ESV

2 So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.

They,

who God had shown Himself to in amazing ways,

have now turned away from God to serve things made by their own hands.

What is so sad, is where did they get all of this gold from?

Do you remember what God had them do during the Exodus?

Exodus 11:2–3 ESV

2 Speak now in the hearing of the people, that they ask, every man of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor, for silver and gold jewelry.” 3 And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.

They got these things from the blessing of God when they left Egypt, as they plundered the Egyptians.

These were meant to be used later in the making of the tabernacle and other items of worship.

They used what God gave them as a blessing to rebel against Him with.

They took the gold meant for worshiping the one true God and fashioned it into a golden calf.

We see this in verses 4-6

Exodus 32:4–6 ESV

4 And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” 6 And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.

There is something that I did not notice until I started reading this chapter a few weeks ago in preparation for today.

My whole life, I have read and have been taught this passage, but I never noticed this.

In verse 5, when he speaks to the feast,

He says it will be to the LORD!.

He is using the same word here as scripture uses for the one true God.

He’s not saying that he has created a whole new god to worship. No, he’s saying that standing before them in the image of a calf, is the great I AM.

He’s saying this cow, made by their own hands, is the god of their fathers, the god of Abraham, Jacob, and Issaac.

But at the same time, the craftsman said in verse four that “these are your gods, o Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”

So what is happening here?

In verse four we see that they are violating the first commandment by worshiping other gods,

and in verse 5 we see that they are violating the second by making a graven image not just of other gods,

but also the one true God as well.

Just forty days prior, they made a covenant to not worship any other gods, nor make graven images of anything in heaven or on earth.

And here they are forty days later doing both!

Israel is doing what we still so often do today.

It is what we call Syncretism.

Syncretism is when you sync together, or combine two or more religions.

Look at slide

They said, ok, we will have the God of Abraham, but we will also have the pagan gods like we saw in Egypt.

Even the way the altar was built modeled after pagan practices.

If you remember from three weeks ago when Rick taught us about the temple, the Holy of Holies, where God would manifest His presence and Glory, was quite far from where sacrifices would be made, and separated by multiple valies.

God was saying that He sees their sacrifices,

even when not placed directly before Him,

because unlike gods made with human hands,

He is omnipresent,

able to see all that is happening throughout the earth.

But Aaron put the altar right in front of the calf.

They would make sacrifices to the great I Am in the manner that the pagans offered sacrifices.

They would offer sacrifices to the great I Am while also making sacrifices to other gods.

This is not how the one true God demands to be worshiped.

When we come before God in worship,

we must come before Him and Him alone,

putting aside what we think is a good idea for worship,

putting aside how the world thinks we should worship,

and worship Him fully in the manners that He has given us to worship Him in.

We must take this serious because God takes this serious.

we see how serious God takes this in verses 26-28

Exodus 32:26–28 ESV

26 then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. 27 And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.’ ” 28 And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell.

We then see in verse 35…

Exodus 32:35 ESV

35 Then the Lord sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made.

So Yet again, the we see God’s Justice, as well as His Mercy.

We see His justice in not allowing this evil to go without a price being paid.

We may see this as severe

, but what we need to understand is the seriousness of their sin.

God is a jealous God and will not have His people serving other gods,

making idols,

or mixing His truths with lies.

We see His Mercy because He would have been fully justified and right to completly wipe out the people and start over with Moses.

God actually suggests this To Moses,

but He being a far greater leader than his brother Aaron,

mediated on behalf of the people,

and their sins were spared.

We could spend an entire sermon on the image of Christ that Moses was here, but that is for another day.

Instead, we will turn our focus on how we can practically apply these truths to our lives, and to the church today.

II. How the church can avoid wrong worship.

1. Examples of Syncretism

To help us understand how we do this today, let me give you some examples from around the world.

Zimbabwe and South Africa

The various folk religions in these regions used amulets, charms, or specific items that they believed to hold spiritual power.

This power would be infused into the objects by a spiritual leader that could then be used for both curse and blessings.

Christians who have been converted from these pagan beliefs have combined the truths of Christianity with the demonic pagan religions they were saved from.

Various groups and cults have done this by saying that various roots,

salts,

or even water

that has been “blessed” by their leaders now have powers to bless and heal people,

thus taking what was normal to their tribal religions, and Christianizing it.

America

There are examples of various examples of missions to the native people of the U.S synchronizing the native religions to Christianity in order to make it easier for them to accept.

But we don’t have to go that far back,

or isolate it to just native Americans.

In 2014, I moved back to America after being in China for one year.

I will never forget the church service I went to the day after I landed back in America.

It was the church of a friend of mine who picked me up at the airport.

This was the Sunday right before the fourth of July, and it honestly made me sick.

The place that we should have been focussed on Christ and His glory was instead focussed on America and It’s glory.

Th decorations, the songs, and even the sermon were all fully focused on America, with a sprinkling of Jesus here and there.

Now this was not synchronizing Christianity with religion, but it was Synchronizing Christianity with the local culture.

Now I am not saying that patriotism is wrong,

or that it is wrong to celebrate one’s country.

But when the culture of this creeps into the church and replaces the focus on God, we have begun to synchronize our faith with our culture.

Liberation theology

Another example of syncretism that grew in prominence in the last century is called liberation theology.

Liberation theology combines the Christian worldview with a Marxist worldview.

It sees the whole Bible as a revolutionary book, that empowers people to overthrow their oppressors.

They take the book of Exodus,

and instead of seeing it as a story that teaches proper Worship and the Glory of God,

they see it as a story that teaches socio-economic liberation.

The truths of Jesus are twisted so that instead of a Messiah who came to save us from the wages of sin,

they see a revolutionary figure who came to overthrow social systems.

I’m sure you can see the attractiveness of these teachings,

especially to those who are being oppressed.

But this comes by mixing in outside worldviews into Christianity, and that is not only dangerous, it is wrong worship.

Maybe none of these examples are relevant to you.

But the point is that we are all at risk of mixing other religions,

cultures,

and worldviews into the truths of Christianity,

and this results in a wrong worship.

So what can we do to ensure that we worship both in spirit, and in truth?

thats the question we will spend the remainder of our time answering .

first, we should….

1. Anchor in the Authority of Scripture

We must Regularly study and meditate on God’s Word to know what it teaches about us about God, salvation, worship, and Christian living.

But it is important to note that most people guilty of syncretism also use the Bible to justify their position.

So it is not just reading the word and finding scripture we can grab out of context to say what we want it to say, but diligently studying it in context, and interpreting scripture with scripture to ensure we understand how each passage fits in to the whole picture of God’s word.

We must also be under the Biblical leadership of the church, ensuring proper accountability and proper study of the Word.

2. Maintain a God-Centered Worship

We should Examine worship practices to ensure they align with God’s revealed will.

Avoid seeking emotional experiences over the Glory of God.

Our worship should absolutly bring emotion.

Worship is a joyful time,

but this joy should be centered around God being made great, and His Glory shown.

We must Design our worship services to exalt God, and be grounded in Scripture.

It must be reflective of His holiness, rather than adopting secular trends or practices to appeal to culture.

Now does that mean that we should not do anything new in our time of worship?

I do not think such an application is the right approach.

Most of the details of how we worship at Hutong is fairly new, in terms of church history at least.

But each part of our service, and how we go about it are done in a way to Glorify God, and make much of Him.

But trying to walk the line between living in the culture, contextualizing the gospel, and grounding everything in the eternal truths of His glory can be difficult.

We have to always be asking is our worship designed to Glorify God as a light to His ultimate greatness, or is it designed to be appealing to those in the culture around us?

This leads us well to the next practical piece of wisdom.

3. Engage Culture Without Compromising

We can never shake off our culture. Our cultures shape so much of who we are and how we think. This is not always bad, but we must be aware of the influence of our culture over us.

Romans 12:2 ESV

2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

As we are in the word, and under Biblical church leadership, our minds will be transformed to His truth, and only then can we avoid mixing in false cultural ideas into our worship of God.

4. Maintain a Christ-Centered Identity

Remember that your identity is in Christ, not in societal trends, political ideologies, or cultural affiliations

This means we need to Avoid aligning the church's mission or message with nationalistic, political, or cultural movements that may distract from the gospel.

5. constantly seek God’s wisdom through prayer.

As we do everything I have said, we must do it all humbly on our knees in prayer to the one we desire to worship.

Pray for His wisdom.

Pray for His guidance.

That is exactly what I want us to do right now.

Let us take the next few minutes to Humbly come before God in prayer.

When I finish with instructions, let’s Get together in groups of 3 or 4 people around you, and pray that God reveal any idols in our lives.

Pray that He speak to each of us and reveal any ways that we are combining worship of God with worship of something else.

Pray for Hutong Church, that it be a church that stands on truth, and does not compromise the worship of God for anything else, wether it be other religions, worldviews, politics, or culture.

Let us Pray that we be a church, and we be a people, that Worship God, and God alone.

after a few minutes of prayer, I’ll have the worship team come back up and lead us in worship.