Where do we Start?

Howard Hughes

Billionaire who owned a movie studio, airline, and numerous casinos in Las Vegas.

A biography said after he died they asked the guests at his casinos to pause for a moment of silence.

After the awkward 60 sec silence it is said that a pit boss at one of the casinos leaned over and whispered “Ok, roll the dice, he’s had his minute.” (From the book, Howard Hughes: The Hidden Years, cited in “Our Daily Bread,” 11/77.)

This is not a sermon on gambling, but I wonder sometimes if we often treat God like those casino patrons treated Howard Hughes.

Taking breaks from the business of our lives to give God “His hour” and then getting back to life.

But is that what God desires of our worship? For us to pause our lives for moments in order to sing songs, read, pray, and listen, and then get back to it?

When you say it like that, not many of us would answer yes, even though most of us likely live like that. I know I do more often than I probably even realize.

The Priority of Worship

I have said this throughout the pandemic.

Our lives have been torn down, stripped, and reorganized throughout the last several months.

As we look ahead, no one really knows how things will look, how life will function, and when or if things will ever get back to “normal”.

But now, as we are beginning to see things open back up, familiar aspects of life return (even if they are in very new forms), and opportunities to reengage, what priorities are going to govern how we rebuild and reengage?

We find ourselves in a similar place the Israelites were after spending 70 years in exile in Babylon.

Now, by God’s gracious providence, they have been given the opportunity to start fresh.

And they start in the place that I believe we need to start, they start with Worship.

Ezra 3:1–13 ESV

1 When the seventh month came, and the children of Israel were in the towns, the people gathered as one man to Jerusalem. 2 Then arose Jeshua the son of Jozadak, with his fellow priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel with his kinsmen, and they built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the Law of Moses the man of God. 3 They set the altar in its place, for fear was on them because of the peoples of the lands, and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, burnt offerings morning and evening. 4 And they kept the Feast of Booths, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number according to the rule, as each day required, 5 and after that the regular burnt offerings, the offerings at the new moon and at all the appointed feasts of the Lord, and the offerings of everyone who made a freewill offering to the Lord. 6 From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord. But the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid. 7 So they gave money to the masons and the carpenters, and food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, according to the grant that they had from Cyrus king of Persia. 8 Now in the second year after their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak made a beginning, together with the rest of their kinsmen, the priests and the Levites and all who had come to Jerusalem from the captivity. They appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to supervise the work of the house of the Lord. 9 And Jeshua with his sons and his brothers, and Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together supervised the workmen in the house of God, along with the sons of Henadad and the Levites, their sons and brothers. 10 And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, according to the directions of David king of Israel. 11 And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel.” And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. 12 But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, 13 so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.

Rebuilding Worship

The first thing the people built was the alter of God.

This is where worship happened in Jewish life.

Sacrifices were to be made on the alter for the sins of the all the people.

They understood the most important, the most vital aspect of their lives to rebuild was their relationship with God.

To focus on worship as a way of life.

1) Worship is GOD-CENTERING

Worship is more than music and church services.

What is Worship anyway:

Worship is defined by John MacArthur this way “Worship is all that we are, reacting rightly to all that He is” (The Ultimate Priority [Moody Press], p. 147).

“Worship is communion with God in which believers, by grace, center their mind’s attention and heart’s affection on the Lord, humbly glorifying Him in response to His greatness and His word.” – Dr. Bruce H. Leafblad

John Piper says “Worship is for the sake of magnifying God, not ourselves, and God is magnified in us when we are satisfied in him.” So seeking to be satisfied in God is how we worship Him most fully.

It really is making God the center of our lives is all things and in all ways.

When the people of God came back into the land their number 1 priority was to begin to rebuild the places where they worshipped.

Starting with the alter where sacrifices were to be made.

And then with the Temple where the presences of God was with His people.

Even in the midst of fear of the people around them (whom we later will see cause lots of problems) they went about building,

And once they alter was finished, they began to bring offerings to the Lord “morning and evening”.

Even reestablishing the Jewish calendar that was so central to their worship, building their entire year around magnifying God in every aspect of life.

Restoring and prioritizing worship in our lives is very different than it was for those in Ezra.

God doesn’t live in a building and He doesn’t require sacrifices and offerings as a means for worship.

Jesus was the final sacrifice that was given for all those who would trust in Him and be saved.

We gather for a corporate time of Worship weekly.

We encourage one another to read and study the Bible and to pray and spend time with the Lord daily to build a knowledge of Him and relationship with Him.

But worship is bigger than the events and the activities.

1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV

31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

1 Peter 4:11 CSB

11 If anyone speaks, let it be as one who speaks God’s words; if anyone serves, let it be from the strength God provides, so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ in everything. To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

It is a moment by moment centering of God, where we seek magnify the goodness, the wonderfulness, and the immenseness of God in all aspect of our lives.

Whether we are at work, at home with our kids, at school with our friends, at a ball game, or whatever and wherever else.

We get so caught up in the things of life that we begin to worship the stuff of life in place of the One who created all the stuff and gave us all the stuff we are now worshipping.

That was what got the People of God thrown into exile before and they were going to do all they could to prevent that from happening again.

Folks, this has not been an easy time, but we have been given an opportunity to rebuild our everyday lives with God at the center.

How are you going to prioritize what you say YES to?

How are you going to reorient your attitude at work in order to magnify the Lord in how you act, speak, and treat others?

What new habits need to be formed and what old habits need to be stopped?

Who do you need to reach out to, serve, or care for, even if it is inconvenient?

There are so many more questions and so many more places for us to examine for the Glory of God in our lives.

and the place we look for answers to how we worship God is His Word.

2) Worship is WORD-SHAPED

It is clear that the People were dependent upon the Word of God as they rebuilt the alter and restarted the feasts and celebrations that had been started long before.

In verse 2 and verse 4 we see the words “as it is written” showing that the People were intentionally searching the Word, and were seeking to build the alter according to the precise specifications and in the correct location as was established long before.

During the Feast of Booths, which was a celebration of God caring for the people while they were in the wilderness after the Exodus, they followed the Word of God concerning the burnt offerings, offering them “by the number according to the rule, as each day required.”

There was a specific, deliberate way the people were to worship God and He had revealed that to them and they were diligently following.

Worship has always been WORD-SHAPED because Our God has always graciously revealed to us how He wants to be worshipped.

In John 4 Jesus encounters a Samaritan woman at a well and after offering her confronting her in her sin and calling her to find true and lasting satisfaction in Him, he makes this statement.

John 4:23–24 ESV

23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

True worshippers worship the Father in “Spirit and Truth”.

If we are to worship God rightly we must

Know Him for who He is - “Spirit” , which means both that we must understand that God is Spirit and also know Him as Spirit

Him AS Spirit is literally Him in us as Spirit, we are His new Temple.

Know Truth, as He has revealed it.

Real, genuine worship is Word-Shaped as we sing it, study it, read it, memorize it, pray it, teach it, preach it, and live it in every nook and cranny of our lives.

How are we to worship God unless we become a more and more Word-Shaped people.

3) Worship is HONEST and REAL.

Verse 10-13 can be a little confusing with the range of emotion presented.

There are trumpets and cymbals being used to praise God.

People shouting and singing

But others, some of the older crowd, are weeping.

Jubilation and sadness all represented in a single moment.

But isn’t this a reality every time we come together as a body.

Any given Sunday we are all coming to the Lord with different emotions.

Some are filled with gratefulness because something has turn out well in their life.

Some are filled with sadness because of loss or brokenness.

Some are filled with awe having experiences something only God could have done through His power.

While others are filled with frustration and maybe even anger because they just don’t understand why.

One flaw of modern worship music is that often doesn’t represent the full spectrum of emotions we experience in our worship of God.

We sing of His love, His salvation, His grace, His kindness...

And those are great things to sing about.

But worship isn’t just about the positive emotions.

The “Old men” in verse 12 were weeping over the size of the temple foundation as the remembered the grandeur of Solomon’s temple.

Yeah they were disappointed, it was a fraction of what they remembered and was representative of the fact that the Nation was a fraction of what it had been.

But there is also a realization on their part that they, and their fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers were the reason that temple no longer stood.

They were coming to grips with just how serious and destructive sin actually is, and they were broken by it.

I want you to hear this:

If you come here today broken and beaten down by your own sin or the sin of others, worship God in your conviction, magnify Him in His salvation, praise Him for His justice. Repentance is worship as we turn from sin and turn toward Him who is better.

If you come here today questioning and frustrated why things are the way they are, know that God is big enough to handle you questions. Worship Him in His wisdom and His unchanging character. Praise Him for His knowledge and His Word.

If you come here today crippled by fear or crushed by the pain of loss, know that God is close the the broken hearted and He is capable to handle anything life may through your way.

Worship is God-centering and so it does not require us to be happy and cheerful for it to be done appropriately

We must worship God in the middle of the pain and the prosperity.

In the middle of the struggle and the blessing.

Regardless of life’s circumstances, worship is the response of faith, faith in a mighty God who is worthy to be praised.

Read the book of Psalms and you will find the full spectrum of emotion on display in the Worship of our God.

4) Worship is INFLUENTIAL.

Ezra 3:13 ESV

13 so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.

The world around us is watching, may they see a people who are desperately seeking to make much of our wonderful and glorious God in our everyday and in every way.

May they hear our shouts of praise and may they hear our cries for understanding and our groans for help.

May we be a people in this season that put God in the center of it all where He can be clearly seen and truly worshipped.