Restoring Reverence
Notes
Transcript
6 If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. 7 Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; 8 for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. 9 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance.
Images of Irreverent Worship
Strange as they may appear to you, these are images taken of a worship service at a Christian mega church in Florida.
These were pictures of both the worship and a sermon series focused on Halloween
These may seem absurd to us, but these are just extreme examples of what has is already being loss of a very important component in our worship, that is reverence..
What is reverence?
Reverence is a deep respect for someone.
In the Bible you will see reverence as a fear or a deep sense of awe of God, with downcast eyes and great humility.
11 Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
In other translations, it says worship the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling..
It sounds strange to some
How can you rejoice with trembling? How can you rejoice and tremble at the same time?
The answer is not to put up dark images of ghostly figures on stage and cause fear among us like this mega church in Florida does..
The answer is we are to come here in worship with a Holy fear of the Lord.
Holy fear.
10 how on the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.’
Deuteronomy
29 Oh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever!
Deuteronomy
God actually demands that we fear Him. This is the holy, reverent fear of God.
6 If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. 7 Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; 8 for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. 9 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance.
1 Timothy 4:6-7
6 If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.
IF you put these things before the brothers.. if you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good servant of Christ..
Paul as a spiritual father to Timothy to is encouraging him to teach the church some things that will make him a good servant of Jesus.
verse 7 starts with: Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths.
Two main reasons for the loss of reverence of God in our time:
Replacing reverence with relevance.
Misunderstanding of Grace.
First reason we are going to tackle:
Reasons for the Loss of Reverence:
Replacing reverence with relevance.
This is some sort of a dilemma to Christians, we are called to display fear but we are also called to be relevant.
Paul said in
22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.
It is true, we need to engage the culture in a meaningful way.
We have to connect with this generation.
Our message should resonate with everyone.
Hence we now hear of the phrase “seeker sensitive”.
“Seeker Sensitive”
Nothing wrong with the main idea..
But we should not repackage the word of God into our own human design to reach people.
If taught and preached faithfully, God’s Word will do the work of convicting and captivating the hearts of men.
12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
One way preachers try to stay relevant is in the content of their preaching.
Sometimes, when I preach there are lighthearted moments to keep engaging with you and I say things from the pulpit that you may find funny at times.
Sometimes, when I preach there are lighthearted moments to keep engaging with you and I say things from the pulpit that you may find funny at times.
If in those moments, you hear me say something that is out of the boundaries of respectful speech, call me out.
I will not disrespect the pulpit with profanity.
If you hear anyone teaching from this pulpit using profanity that person should step down and never teach from the pulpit again.
In trying to be funny he has disrespected the pulpit and abused his authority, he should not teach from the pulpit again.
Examples of profanity, sexual innuendos. Jokes that have sexual meanings.
Pastor Ramon but it is funny. You are being rigid.
The point is if the person has to use profanity to keep you engaged then he has a problem with my relationship with the Lord. To the point that he can no longer rightly divide the word of truth, he cannot trust the word of the Lord to touch your hearts that he has to use a story that is obscene and sexual in nature to keep you awake.
I write manuscripts for my sermons, but I speak words from here as the Spirit reminds me. How can I insert profanity in my manuscript?
There should be no profane language spoken from the pulpit simply because:
I fear God and I handle the word of truth and I love you.
I will be careful with the message that sticks to your minds when you leave this place. Will you remember or talk about that funny but obscene joke, or will you talk about how the word of God pierced your heart through His unadulterated word?
I pray and trust in the Power of the Holy Spirit to speak to you and touch your hearts. I will not
We must not sacrifice reverence for relevance.
Second reason for the loss of reverence in the church:
2. Misunderstanding of Grace.
Christians dismiss discipline as legalism.
We should no longer be walking in fear of God, we are under grace.
Difference of the use of the word fear..
We should not fear judgement. (no longer His enemies, no more hostility)
But we should still have a holy fear of God in our hearts. Again reverence.
The problem is that Christians confuse grace with reverence.
The grace of God should invite reverence of Him, not suspend it.
Paul, the greatest teacher of grace, in many instances while writing He will just break out in spontaneous doxology of reverence to God:
36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” 35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
Romans 11:
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 3 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. 6 If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. 7 Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; 8 for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. 9 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. 10 For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. 11 Command and teach these things. 12 Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. 14 Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. 15 Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. 16 Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.
:
We live under grace but we are also people of grace.
That means we identify with the God of grace.
We should still give Him reverence.
Nowadays Christians think we worship a different god. With this god, Moses no longer has to remove the shoes from his feet.
With this god, the apostle John would no longer fall at his feet like dead.
With this revised god, people do not mind how to dress when they come to church.
With this revised god, people no longer find the need to come early to church. They won’t miss the start of a football game. But it is ok to miss the start of the service.
With this revised god, Christians are ok with checking posts on social media, while singing songs of worship..
With this revised god of their making, people think they just give the token offering and not worthy to be honored with their tithes.
And all these are justified by saying, we now live in a time of grace.
Where is reverence?
How do we restore reverence to God?
Paul gives us the answer.
7 Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; 8 for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
People confuse training to godliness with training unto righteousness or sanctified living. That is true too..
Training:
Image of the word godliness or Eusebia here.
The word for Godliness is a word that has a very distinctive meaning. Godliness means an entire attitude towards God.
Same word used..
11 But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.
Paul is saying we have to train our attitude towards God.
Worship is not just an act. It is an attitude towards God.
We have to train ourselves into godliness.
Worship as an act, you have to sing,, then your attitude towards God.
But Paul is saying we have to train in our attitude toward God..
Image of concentric circles body soul and spirit here..
Your body is what is seen, but that is not the real you.
Your soul is your thoughts, emotions, your will - but that is not the real you.
Your spirit is the real you. Your spirit is eternal.
The inner part of you controls the next outer part.
Body - train by exercise..
But if your will does not cooperate..
Likewise, lifting hands in worship,, our mind wanders away, or inhibits us, self conscious..
Your soul, controls what your body will do..
Now our soul (emotions, thoughts and the will) left on its own will be influenced by the world around us..
Now if our spirit is made alive in Christ, and we subject our spirit to the spiritual disciplines… prayer, Bible study .. your spirit will control your soul, your thoughts, etc and then it will show in your body through what you do..
Our Spirit should be subjected to the Spirit of God.
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
You will live a life with reverence to God.
Worship is a product of reverence to God, not the other way around.
8 for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. 9 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance.
We worship God simply because He is worthy of our worship.