Living a life of worship

Introduction

About 10-15 years ago, there was an extremely damaging division amongst it seemed every church everywhere. Perhaps you have heard of it before it was called by many “The Worship Wars.” What this was in essence was a disagreement in what style of worship music would be sang and offered to God on Sunday Mornings. Let me just say, every church that chose to enter this war, weather you were on the contemporary side of the hymn side, neither side won. Why? Because when that becomes the argument, it’s clear that we have missed hugely and sinfully what worship is about, where it is to be done, and Who it is to be to.

Make arrangements of improper mentality (microphones facing stage) and correct.

You see when we gather and offer songs of worship to God, we are not the audience, it is not for enjoyment. It is the other way around, we sing to the audience of one, the audience of God and it is for His enjoyment. And let me tell you, God likes many, many more styles of worship than you or I do and He is looking for the act of worship (the act of putting God above everything else) in every and all places, not just confined to the church house on Sunday morning. This of course is the counter of fleshly wants and desires, who want what we want we want it, and nothing else at no other time. It means we must lay ourselves down at the altar of sacrifice and instead take up worship to God and nothing and no one else.

Prayer

Father God, we thank You for Who You are. A great Big God who sees each and every one of us here and cares deeply about us. We ask this day, as we are continuing in this time of worship to You, reading Your Word and hearing Your Word, that You refine us with it. Mold us, make us, shape us, rearrange us so that we can be more like You, and made more into the image of Christ. Help us be a people who love You and love others so much, that we are moved into action by whatever it is You are going to show us about Yourself today and what that means in our lives. Help us do this, because all too often our selfish and sinless flesh war against our will to follow Yours. As we are doing this, and as we are coming into Your Word today, we ask that You take away any distraction that we may have, and make it go as far away as it possibly can, because we want to see and we want to know You better. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.

Context

In the last few weeks through our series the book of Nehemiah, we saw the people having revival poured out upon them by God, who has led the way to the people being restored to Him in presence and worship, the temple being restored, and the wall and city of Jerusalem restored. Through this revival, we have seen several actions that always happen during a revival, 1st was that it was preceded by prayers of repentance and calling upon God to revive and restore us to a closer relationship with Him. Then we saw that as a response to that prayer: God calls people in to Him, The Word of God/ The Gospel is proclaimed to them, and this then leads to an affirmative “Yes” response to it, We also saw the people crying out to God, realizing their vast sins and the terribleness of it, also knowing and admitting the reality of the situation the people found themselves, and then ultimately committing and doing whatever it is you need to worship and serve God in the way that He deserves and decrees upon you, no matter the cost. We will see that playing out more in our text today.

We can all affirm these points, but where the problem so often comes is not in admitting to actions and points in revival, but the necessary sacrifice that will come afterwards. Indeed, if our whole life is about worshiping God and enjoying Him forever, then it follows that we must put aside the other things in our lives that gives us false hope, false comfort, false and unholy enjoyment. So, there will be a personal sacrifice for each and every follower of Jesus who seeks and does worship correctly. What I'm saying is that Worshiping God right will require personal sacrifice. Sometimes it’s great, sometimes it’s small. Sometimes it’s in between. But it will always be there, because our adversary the Devil is continually trying to “Get” us, trick us into putting our worship and attention onto other things that God, sneaking idols into our lives both seen and unseen. We do not fall for this trick though, and when we do, we are to remove that idol and re-focus ourselves onto living a life of Worship to God. So, to help us each do that, let's look into the text where I want you to see and do these actions as you live a life of sacrificial worship.

Message

The first action to see and do is to: Make God’s call in your life the priority 11:1-12:26

With the leaders of the people now mostly living within Jerusalem, there was still a big problem within the town, while yes at this point many people had come to live within it, still it was far too bare and needed more people living within it. Keep in mind, in this day and age wars between neighboring powers/countries/peoples were very common, especially when that neighbor needed more riches or resources. So, a large fortified city that had an entire peoples riches and storehouses within it was a huge liability and risk if it didn’t have enough people within it to defend it. So, to sum up this long section, the people of Israel consolidated where they lived even more, moving away from the rural outskirts to close villages and the city itself, focusing especially on the priesthood and leaders of the people. It didn’t stop their thought, still they needed more, so it was decided that 1/10th of laymen were to move within the Holy city of Jerusalem as well. Some volunteered, and others drew cast lots/drew straws, but everyone who went did so in a joyful heart, ready for the next phase in their lives that God called to them to, ready to serve God in this new, exciting, yet very different way.

Moving has its own kind of special way about it doesn’t it? There is a whole and vast range of emotions, experiences, and execution that has to take place. It of course comes with both excitement and fear, excitement of the new and fear of the unknown. It comes with new experiences that you couldn't get in your old home, but also a longing for the lost ones when you go. It comes with all kinds of tolling execution. You have to move your whole life from one place to another, many times that means leaving behind or getting rid of old beloved things that will no longer serve you in your new place and space and finding new things to serve you well there. Not to mention the difficulty of boxing that all up, tossing much of it out, giving some of it away, and then loading it all in the moving truck and then right back out a short while later. Perhaps at first, a move is filled with more joy and excitement than anything. But, something we always forget about comes a little later. That is, sadness (especially if the move wasn’t wanted by all), a feeling of isolation (as you don’t know anyone in the new place and don’t know how the people and culture work there and the old people you loved you left behind), and a longing for the familiar old for comfort. I can personally confirm all of that after moving and can also say that it can take months to come to grips with and years to get past.

Yet still, in any Christian’s life at some point or another comes a call to make a drastic change in your life to make God’s call in your life a priority. Now, it won’t be moving for everyone (but it might be) as it was for these many Israelites. It could be all kinds of things like career changes, family planning changes and adjustments, retirement changes, these can be them yes, and those are very big things. But, more often we are called to many small changes. Particularly, the change to put aside any rebellion (sin) in your life that is keeping you from devoting your life to God. Worshiping God right will require personal sacrifice. Sometimes this will be a large sacrifice, oftentimes it will be many small ones. Either way, you are called to and should sacrifice (put away) anything that is keeping you from filling God’s call on you and your life and the ministry He has called you to. To not do so, it is to regard Him second, which means something else is first, meaning you have an idol that is keeping you back from a closer relationship with God and the joy that you will find there. So, make God’s call in your life the priority, make the kingdom of God furthered your desire. Make loving God, Loving People, and making Disciples be your battle cry and watch the enemy fall before you and the chains that you wear that are keeping you down will break.

The next action to see and do is to: Celebrate what God has done 12:27-43

27 At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, they sent for the Levites wherever they lived and brought them to Jerusalem to celebrate the joyous dedication with thanksgiving and singing accompanied by cymbals, harps, and lyres. 28 The singers gathered from the region around Jerusalem, from the settlements of the Netophathites, 29 from Beth-gilgal, and from the fields of Geba and Azmaveth, for they had built settlements for themselves around Jerusalem. 30 After the priests and Levites had purified themselves, they purified the people, the city gates, and the wall.31 Then I brought the leaders of Judah up on top of the wall, and I appointed two large processions that gave thanks. One went to the right on the wall, toward the Dung Gate. 32 Hoshaiah and half the leaders of Judah followed, 33 along with Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam, 34 Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, Jeremiah, 35 and some of the priests’ sons with trumpets, and Zechariah son of Jonathan, son of Shemaiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Micaiah, son of Zaccur, son of Asaph followed 36 as well as his relatives—Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani, with the musical instruments of David, the man of God. Ezra the scribe went in front of them. 37 At the Fountain Gate they climbed the steps of the city of David on the ascent of the wall and went above the house of David to the Water Gate on the east.38 The second thanksgiving procession went to the left, and I followed it with half the people along the top of the wall, past the Tower of the Ovens to the Broad Wall, 39 above the Ephraim Gate, and by the Old Gate, the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel, and the Tower of the Hundred, to the Sheep Gate. They stopped at the Gate of the Guard. 40 The two thanksgiving processions stood in the house of God. So did I and half of the officials accompanying me, 41 as well as the priests: Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, with trumpets; 42 and Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer.Then the singers sang, with Jezrahiah as the leader. 43 On that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced because God had given them great joy. The women and children also celebrated, and Jerusalem’s rejoicing was heard far away.

With the people now becoming stronger in their faith and more committed to God, they realized something…. We need to celebrate what God had just done for us, just as we did when He led us to reconstruct the temple. We need to dedicate this finished wall to God and celebrate His provision in it! So, the priestly order of Levites was gathered far and wide and brought it, for they are the ones God had ordained to lead this kind of event and worship from long before. As they came together, they made great marches of choirs, one starting in one place and going clockwise on top of the walls, and the other going counterclockwise on the wall. Just imagine it, it must have been quite the spectacle for a traveling choir to march on and around the city walls that were once mocked, saying that they were not strong enough to hold the weight of a small fox without falling. Now, God’s power was once again on display in the strength of the walls with this parade of worshipers going around on it. They finished their procession only at the temple, where they went and rejoiced in singing, celebrations, and sacrifices in worship of God. From this act of remembrance and celebration, it was so joyous that it could be heard from very far away. This indeed, was a grand celebration, because the God they are celebrating is Great and worthy of celebration and remembrance.

It’s important in the worship life of the Christian to remember to take time to stop and celebrate, which is to both acknowledge and rejoice, what God has done. I mean…. Look at the celebrations that God had given the Israelites to celebrate, on top of the weekly Sabbath (Shabbot) He gave them 17 festivals/Holidays (many of which last several days or weeks) to celebrate God in a certain and particular way in regards to His character, what He has done, How we relate to Him, and How sin affects that relationship. This is all to acknowledge and rejoice in Him.

If you are anything like me, it is hard to wrap your mind around that, that much celebration. As someone who loves to remember things like check lists, tasks, how productive I am, and what can be accomplished, it is very easy for me to look past and scoff at anything that can take away from my ability to “mark something off the list.” And, wouldn’t you know it, stopping to celebrate God or stopping to celebrate by resting as the Sabbath dictates seems counterproductive and bad when I consider it with my own mind and logic. But, God says something much different. He tells us stop, remember me, celebrate me. It’s in these moments where the rub happens that I and we have to remember that Worshiping God right will require personal sacrifice.

Sometimes this sacrifice is big, sometimes it’s small. Either way, it will require sacrifice, putting things off for another, reorganizing your priorities, but most of all sacrificing your pride and will and instead letting God’s Will, His commands, His precepts take priority. So then, in an effort for us to collectively celebrate what God has done, I've been hinting at it for a few weeks now, but now is the time for action. Next month, we will have a month of special testimonies at the end of service. These are about the dice that have been put in the “Go” Jar so far this year. So, if you have put a dice in this year, see me directly after service, because I have a questionnaire to help prepare you for sharing your story and us celebrating it. For now, let’s move on because

Another action to see and do is to: Contribute to your portion of ministry 12:44-47

44 On that same day men were placed in charge of the rooms that housed the supplies, contributions, firstfruits, and tenths. The legally required portions for the priests and Levites were gathered from the village fields, because Judah was grateful to the priests and Levites who were serving. 45 They performed the service of their God and the service of purification, along with the singers and gatekeepers, as David and his son Solomon had prescribed. 46 For long ago, in the days of David and Asaph, there were heads[c] of the singers and songs of praise and thanksgiving to God. 47 So in the days of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah, all Israel contributed the daily portions for the singers and gatekeepers. They also set aside daily portions for the Levites, and the Levites set aside daily portions for Aaron’s descendants.

When reading and understanding this, it is critical to remember one piece of information that hadn’t been mentioned in quite some time. This was an extremely difficult financial time and season for all the people. This was for several reasons, one the people for around 2 months in the year were called away from their occupations and fields to provide for themselves. Also, there was famine in the area at the time, so plants, crops, and agriculture were not doing well. Third, they were still recovering from the extortion that was happening before. Fourth, the people were financially overburdened from taxes to other kingdoms. So, everyone was having a rough go, but do you see what happened? They didn’t let that keep them from contributing to ministry both in their tithes (their giving of 10%) and their offerings (what was given in excess of 10%) and they didn’t make excuses, instead they found solutions. This was done so that everyone who was supposed to could fulfill the ministry that they were each and everyone of them called to, both directly as in the priests, levities, and other keepers of the temples and gates, but also and importantly everyone else as part of their ministry is giving and worship by doing so.

Today, ministry isn’t exactly the same. That is, with the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross and Him as our High Priest, we all function as a people of priests, that is we are all in some way and form responsible for contribution both monetarily and physically to ministry. Before, only certain people on certain occasions can enter into God’s presence and offer sacrifice. Now, with Jesus all followers of Jesus can come into God’s presence and indeed have the person of God the Holy Spirit with them, as so we all have a ministry responsibility. Back then, it was God’s decree that the people serving Him (the priests, levities, scribes and temple keepers) couldn’t even have land that was good for anything like farming or providing themselves, so they were totally dependent on God and His people to provide and give sacrifices and offerings to survive.

Today’s world looks quite a bit different than it did then, because as a culture and society we have chosen many other preferences and things over God’s Will, His Worship, His commands, and the ministries He has called us each into. We as Christians in America have forgotten that we are all called to Love God, Love People, and Make disciples. And as a consequence there has been far reaching effects on church congregations and those that have put their lives, wants, and desires aside and instead chose to dedicate their lives and beings to those things, and seeing God glorified and the kingdom furthered. So then, let me urge you today, to look past your own preferences, and instead consider every word found in the Word of God, which will reveal much about Him and Your relationship with Him. I urge you to (just as the people of Israel were) contribute your portion in every way to ministry as an act of worship to God. This of course means that Worshiping God right will require personal sacrifice. It will be hard and lead to difficult decisions and taking steps out in faith, yes, but how great is it that our offerings go to a God that has Sacrificed everything, even His very own life so that you can can be redeemed by Christ’s Sacrifice on the cross for you. And, He who has done these things has given you talents, gifts, and abilities to contribute in a way that no one else can as well as you can.

Conclusion

So then beloved, seek to make sacrifices that go deeper and deeper, never be content with your level of worship but always and earnestly seek for more. So then, do these things: Make God’s call in your life the priority 11:1-12:26, Celebrate what God has done 12:27-43, and Contribute to your portion of ministry 12:44-47 and you will find that you are living a life of worship.

With all of that being said, I would be remiss if I didn’t share the Gospel (or the Good News) of Jesus Christ with you today, for the benefit of both believer and non-believer in the room. This begins all the way back at the beginning, God created everything, and he created all things good. He gave His most treasured creation (us, mankind) the ability of free will, the ability to choose Him or rebellion. Man was deceived by Satan and desired to be like God and sinned (or rebelled against God). This brought the curse of sin and death into the world and it remains with us to this day; which separates us from God. God, though, loved His creation (mankind) so much that He worked through history to redeem all mankind that would turn to Him from sin so that we can experience a full and perfect relationship with Him again. This was through the perfect and final sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the pay for sins. Accepting this free gift from God, makes you new and forgiven. All you have to do is accept this free gift by repenting and believing in the Lord Jesus and you will get to experience the good side of God’s justice forever. So, now that you know this, you can no longer plead ignorance. I invite and urge you to respond today non-believer and apply this to every part of your life believers in the audience today.

Father God, we thank You for Who You are. A great Big God who sees each and every one of us here and cares deeply about us. We ask this day, as we are continuing in this time of worship to You, reading Your Word and hearing Your Word, that You refine us with it. Mold us, make us, shape us, rearrange us so that we can be more like You, and made more into the image of Christ. Help us be a people who love You and love others so much, that we are moved into action by whatever it is You are going to show us about Yourself today and what that means in our lives. Help us do this, because all too often our selfish and sinless flesh war against our will to follow Yours. As we are doing this, and as we are coming into Your Word today, we ask that You take away any distraction that we may have, and make it go as far away as it possibly can, because we want to see and we want to know You better. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.