Closeness is not Casualness [STAR]

Introduction

Hey everyone - it’s good to see this place already filling out while people are still away. This service is going to grow to the biggest it’s ever been this year amen? We’re looking at breaking straight through the 300 mark this year.

This month Char and Leila have set the topic of Reverence to us. And this is an interesting topic because it’s one of those topics that you either love or hate.

I’m sure that many of us in this room who have grown up in church have heard how “reverence is a holy fear” of God.

And you know what - for some people they really dig that. For them reverence comes quite naturally, when they think of God they immediately think of a very Holy and very Great being and so reverencing God is something that they associate with.

But for others - reverencing God almost seems to take away something from God, they know God as friendly, as loving, and this idea of a terrifying, powerful, wrathful God doesn’t sit well with them. That’s the old testament God - but Jesus has done away with it

So like who’s right? Is God this terrifying, holy God that we have to be careful of and tread carefully around ALL the time? Or is He a God who we can approach and come near and not be afraid of? Which one is it?

I find that nobody has clear answers to this - because of a fundamental misunderstanding of reverence.

That’s what I want to look into today.

Let’s pray.

Segment 1: Mount Sinai

Hebrews 12:18–29 ESV

18 For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest 19 and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. 20 For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” 21 Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. 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. 26 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.” 27 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. 28 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, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.

Here we have the author of Hebrews talking about two mountains, each representing a different way of approaching God. Each describing a different era in our relationship with God.

The first mountain that he talks about is Mount Sinai - and I want you just to catch from the type of language that he’s using exactly what kind of approach he’s talking about. This is the OLD SCHOOL reverence that you may know. The fire, the brimstone, the fear and trembling. Look at some of the things that Paul mentions here:

Blazing Fire, Gloom, Tempest

If even a beast touches the mountain it shall be stoned

It was so terrifying that Moses said that he trembles with fear before it.

This is perhaps the image that many of us catch when we speak about “reverence” we think about it as just fear and terror and trembling before God.

And perhaps this is a reflection of what most of the world believes that God is like - and what religion is like. It’s living a life filled with fear and terror of a God who can’t wait to judge us for our sins and wrongdoings.

And this is how faith becomes fear driven. We push to live good lives out of the fear that God will strike us down or curse us.

And when we sin, we feel alienated, isolated, judged and hated by a God who is always watching us, basically waiting for us to mess up.

But I want you to look at what the author says about this kind of fear-driven reverence. And it’s literally in the first line of the passage that we just read.

“For you have NOT come to a mountain that can be touched.”

We have NOT come to this place - this is not the kind of fear-driven reverence that we are meant to embody.

We are NOT called to have a fear of CLOSENESS.

We’re not called to be afraid to approach God, to have contact with God, to repent to God, to tremble with fear in front of God.

This is NOT the kind of faith that we have been called to.

But there are still people who are living under that. Who are living with a Sinai sort of mentality to God. You fear God, but it’s not reverence.

It’s like you’re just waiting for God to punish you for your sin, your faith is just constantly trying to appease God, to have Him not be angry at you.

It’s causing you to struggle to believe that God really loves you. You can’t really see it, you can’t really seem to believe it. To you - His love may be conditional.

You believe in God’s judgment and condemnation so easily - but when people tell you about how much He loves you, you push it aside.

You don’t believe that God is FOR you.

You struggle to see God as a father - or if you do see him as a father you see him as a disappointed Father that you have to keep pleasing or else. Maybe it’s causing you to see God more as a general, more as a boss, more like a tyrant.

ILLUSTRATION: Father vs General

Ever since I entered ministry as a young pastor, I always struggled to see God as a loving Father, and instead I saw him more like a general where I was one of the soldiers in His army, it was functional - I served Him without question, I gave my entire life to serve Him and never looked back. I had so much reverence for the Lord, what I didn’t know at the time that it was a reverence based on an unhealthy fear of God.

But everything fell apart in 2018 when I entered a season of depression. When I was walking through that dark place, I didn’t just feel alone, I felt distant from God - I felt like a failure. I didn’t feel that God was walking with me, I more felt that He was judging me, that He was disappointed with me. You know I nearly left the faith multiple times in this season?

One day - one of the prayer aunties at church asked to see me randomly. And as we were talking - she discerned and brought up this issue (this is why you don’t mess with prayer aunties). She asked me, “Are you scared of God?” Of course I was like “pft. No. I love God. We tight.” and then she tried to Jesus me by asking me the same question 3 times, “Are you scared of God?” and each time I said no I wasn’t, I love God. But I could tell she wasn’t buying it.

Then she changed the question and asked me, “When you picture your relationship with God, what do you see?” And I paused. And I actually started to get emotional as God put His finger on something in my life. I replied, “I see a general. A commander of an army. I see someone I revere, someone that I respect greatly.”

And I’ll always remember what happened next because it was like God orchestrated it perfectly for me to see. She paused and then got up suddenly and walked to the door and opened it. She looked back at me and said “Do you know what’s the greatest difference between a general and a Father?” and then she called out to her grand-daughter. And then her granddaughter came running into the room, and she scooped her up in her arms and held her close.

She didn’t have to say anything to me. I just looked at her, tears in my eyes and answered the question for her - one word: “Closeness”. You know every time I see Leila and Char pick up Psalm, when I see Jackson, Alina or Arielle crawl all over Dan and Tracey, my heart is reminded - I have a Father, not a General.

When we have a Sinai mentality - when we perceive reverence through the lens of fear and terror; we build a faith around commands - not about closeness.

But God desires CLOSENESS.

Hebrews 4:16 “16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Romans 8:15 “15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!””

Psalm 145:18 “18 The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.”

Segment 2: Mount Zion

And this is what the author is saying in this passage when he moves to talk about Mount ZION. It speaks of closeness, nearness to God. It’s a scene of the city of God, a picture of what it’s like INSIDE the kingdom of God.

Most significantly in this passage is how it ends in v24 “and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word that the blood of Abel.”

What does this mean? It’s a reference to the blood of Abel, who was murdered by his brother Cain in the book of Genesis. In Genesis 4:10 “10 And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.”

Abel’s blood cries for justice, it calls out to God for judgment, it calls out in accusation - it calls for God to act as a JUDGE against sin.

But Jesus’ blood that He shed for us on the cross speaks greater than the blood of Abel. Jesus’ blood speaks forgiveness, it speaks atonement, it speaks reconciliation, it calls on God to act as REDEEMER over our sin.

And the author is saying we HAVE come to this place - through the blood of Jesus Christ, we HAVE come close. We are being called to draw near to God.

We aren’t in the Mount Sinai era anymore where reverence looks like being so terrified of God that we can’t even touch Him or draw near to Him.

We are in the Mount Zion era where Jesus ushers us close to God, where we are called to draw near to Him. God is our Father, we are no longer servants but sons and daughters.

Segment 3: Closeness is not Casualness

But then we hit v25, a theological anchor in this passage - and almost a sudden warning that’s interjected into this passage.

Hebrews 12:25 “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.”

And here - I want to pause so that we can catch what is one of the most potent lessons on reverence in the bible. And that is this: Closeness is NOT Casualness

Just because we have been allowed to draw near to God, just because we have been called close to God does not mean that we should be CASUAL around Him.

He is still the SAME God the author describes at Sinai, still just as Holy, still just as Mighty, still just as Awe-inspiring, the only difference is that through the sacrfiice of Jesus we can now DRAW NEAR, we can now DRAW CLOSE to Him!

But we MUST NEVER make the mistake of thinking that just because we have been allowed CLOSE, that we can suddenly become CASUAL. God is always, and will always be deserving of our highest reverence.

What the author is saying here in v25 is that Israel rejected the voice and commands of God in the Old Testament (through the prophets and leaders) and paid the consequences for it.

But now that we have been drawn close to God through Jesus. Now that we are allowed nearer to God than ever before - now that we have heard the instruction of Jesus and have the conviction of the Holy Spirit to guide us - HOW MUCH GREATER will the consequences be if we choose to not listen now.

It’s a stern warning to us today - God’s mercy is NOT permission to treat God with irreverence.

Our closeness with God, our familiarity with God doesn’t mean that we don’t treat Him with reverence - on the contrary it means that our reverence for Him should INCREASE.

Romans 2:4 “4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?”

Our closeness/nearness is meant to lead us to reverence

ILLUSTRATION: FIRE

You know the best way I can illustrate this? Have you ever sat around a campfire before? Campfires reveal who the real psychopaths are in the room. There’s always one guy who’s just like “randomly” got an axe in his bag and a jerry can full of gasoline in his boot.

I was speaking at a Christian youth leaders camp in Sydney when they decided to build a full on campfire after the last session to “toast marshmallows” - which like a stove could have done by the way, but once these psychos had revealed themselves, they were chopping trees down, throwing entire palettes on to the fire, and then one psychopath by the name of Dan (I couldn’t make this up if I tried) took out a jerry can of fuel and poured it all over the wood. His reasoning was “The wood was wet and needed help”.

All I remember is one match and FWOOSH this fire immediately takes off - and the flames shoot up around 2 stories high, like 9-10 meters EASILY. And these guys are psychos remember so I expected everyone to be cheering and laughing but something really unexpected happened.

The moment the flames shot up into the air - silence. Every person near the fire immediately recoiled from the heat and moved back to a safe distance, the boys that were dragging more wood to the fire stopped in their tracks and just stood, watching these 10m tall flames burning. The heat coming off this thing was absolutely insane, nobody could come near to it. The flames grew so tall they started to lick the tree canopy above us - and we had to call the fire brigade out because we genuinely thought we had started a bushfire.

I think of this moment every time I talk about reverence. You know why? Because it was the people who were closest to the fire that recoiled the most. It was the people sitting in front of it that moved back quickly to get out of its way. It was the people trying to “toast marshmallows” that ran first after it came alight.

And so it is with God - Closeness is not Casualness. Just because God has allowed us close, does not mean that He is any less holy.

In fact it is quite the opposite - since we can now draw near to God, CLOSENESS gives us CLARITY

What does that mean? It means that BECAUSE you have been allowed close - you should EVEN MORE be able to see why God is deserving of reverence.

It means the closer you are to God, the more He is revealed to you - the MORE reverence should characterise your faith and walk with Him.

It’s like staring down a bushfire and not having the reverence to get out of its way; what’s going to happen? You’re going to get burned.

Segment 4: Casual Christianity

Do you know what the greatest danger to reverence is in this generation? It’s not athiesm. It’s casual Christianity.

I find casual Christianity more dangerous because what it shows people is that I have experienced God, and STILL deem Him unworthy of my reverence.

Casual Christianity is having an encounter with God week after week after week and STILL remaining unchanged.

It’s believing that you can draw near to God, that you can approach God and remain UNCHANGED.

It’s calling yourself a Christian and still living life the way that YOU want to live it.

This is by far the greatest danger to reverence in this generation.

The author talks about this in Hebrews 12:26–27 “26 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.” 27 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.”

This passage is not talking about a loss of salvation, it is talking about what KIND of faith survives testing.

God’s not going to shake us to DESTROY faith but to REVEAL what faith actually is.

Casual Christianity is BUILT on Shakable things - it is built on convenience, built on comfort, built on stability.

It’s built on empty altars and free sacrifices. It costs nothing, and demands nothing.

Casual Christianity avoids the WEIGHT that reverence carries

We want to be inspired without surrendering.

We want to have access to God without being awed by Him

We want to be close to God without it costing us.

Reverence is what adds weight, it gives meaning, it is the APPROPRIATE response to an almighty God.

Segment 5: The source of reverence is gratitude

It’s so fitting then that the author ends this passage with Hebrews 12:28–29 “28 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, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.”

The final line in this passage is one that we are familiar with - a unwavering statement on God’s holiness. God is a consuming fire, and due all of our reverence.

But I want to draw your attention to something that people miss in v28. It says let us be GRATEFUL for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken - in other words let us be grateful that Jesus let us in, let us be grateful that we have been invited to be CLOSE.

And then it says - AND THUS - in other words, BECAUSE OF THAT - let’s offer to God acceptable worship which is worship with reverence and awe.

Did you catch that?

The author has given us a new angle on reverence, a completely new perspective on reverence.

Reverence is no longer driven by a fear of being rejected by God - it’s driven by the gratitude of being drawn near to Him.

That’s a HUGE paradigm shift - and one that so many Christians struggle to make.

We don’t reverence God to avoid rejection, we reverence God because we have been accepted.

Gratitude, not fear - is the start of reverence.

I want us to really catch this tonight - because so many Christians reverence God out of fear of being rejected by Him. They reverence God because they’re trying to appease Him, they’re trying to win His favour, they’re trying to GET close to Him.

And because of that the faith becomes this terrible, exhausting journey of just constantly trying to reverence God to earn our spot in His family. Christians grow exhausted, and more importantly - will quickly begin to feel unworthy.

But that’s not the way it’s meant to be. Reverence does not keep you near God - it’s the other way round, nearness is where we learn reverence.

We reverence out of a deep nearness and closeness to Him. We reverence FROM a place of acceptance. And it’s out of that nearness, it’s because we can see Him up close, that we see He is worthy of all our reverence. We see He is far holier, far greater, far mightier than we could have ever perceived from afar.

*call up keys*

ILLUSTRATION: Uncle Raja

I actually am very blessed to have a family that ministers to the Kingdom. Both my mum’s and dad’s side who are here and in Malaysia are filled with ministers - pastors, prayer ministers, kingdom financiers.

One of my uncles here is a kingdom financier. He was a malay muslim who converted to Christianity when my Dad got saved and started to one by one bring our entire family to Christ. As a malay muslim, when he converted, he was persecuted heavily for his faith. To the point where he basically had to move his family from Malaysia to Perth because things were becoming to difficult in Malaysia.

But you know despite this he not only kept his faith - but he also excelled at his job, and started to earn quite a lot of money. That’s how he ended up becoming a kingdom financier - to an extent I won’t reveal out of respect, but can just tell you that he funded missionaries, pastors, schools, bible colleges, charities and more. He actually supports our Helpers ministry as well - pledging a large amount of money to us over the next few years.

Over the years whenever I’ve met him to talk about kingdom finance and whenever he asks me about if we need finances etc. I always catch such a sense of reverence behind it. You know? Like he’s so careful to use his money wisely - like he’s carrying it so sacredly. Whenever I’d ask him if he’s sure he wants to give he’ll always say the same thing: “God has always provided for us. So we will continue to give to the Kingdom”

Such reverence out of a gratitude. He’s not cavalier with his money, he’s not spending it on exorbitant things - he looks after his family, and then he finances the kingdom. The reverence comes out of that gratitude. God has provided to me. I must steward this money and provide to others.

A couple of weeks ago we got the devastating news that he had been dignosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. The moment we found out the news his condition deteriorated extremely fast. He’s now in a hospice with maybe only a few weeks left to live.

You know - when his daughter told me about his condition I called him immediately. I told him, “uncle - let’s stop your ongoing donations to Helpers (because it’s a lot of money). Let’s channel all the money to your treatment to make sure that you get better.” you know without missing a beat he told me what he always told me. “No Jon, God has always provided for us. We will continue to give.”

Even when faced with death, He still acts with such reverence. God has given much to me, I will steward it well to others.

This is reverence from a place of closeness. This kind of reverence stands the test of time.

Altar Call

Is God this terrifying, holy God that we have to be careful of and tread carefully around ALL the time? Or is He a God who we can approach and come near and not be afraid of?

The answer: He’s both.

Call a generation back to reverence in worship

Reverence starts with knowing that God is FOR you

Reverence doesn’t start with being good enough, or worthy enough.