How Much More Should Our Worship Be

introduction

the meaning of worship: an encounter with the living and holy God. It can be both public and private worship. THis morning we want to talk about public worship.

Worship has always been the centre of God’s people, even in the time of OT. Although Hebrew has no comprehensive term for “worship,” the concept of giving honor (the root כבד, kbd) and praise (הלל, hll, ידה, ydh) to God is expressed through a variety of forms in the Old Testament, including:

• sacred space (temples, altars);

• sacred time (Sabbath, festivals);

• rituals (sacrifices, postures); and

• words (psalms, prose prayers).

Israelite worship embodies the outward expression of the inner attitudes of the worshiper while also reflecting a theology of the deity being worshiped

comparison between OT and our worship today

how has pandemic affect our worship today？

today we take worship for granted.

the dilemma of worshipping with spirit and in truth. i think it is completely different from being neglectful, indifferent, thoughtless.

how much more is the blood of unblemished God, so that we may serve the living God? that means more than the OT. in what way? Worship is a way of serving the Lord.

shouldnt better sacrifice deserve our better worship than the OT worship?

greater preparation, greter honour, greater encounter

with the author’s description of the old covenant worship, he sets up an effective contrast of themes, describing hte old covenant system of worship in order that it might highlight, by contrast, the new method of approaching God established by the work of Christ.

Greater preparation for the spiritual significance (v1-5)

first covenant had its regulation for worship and a place for worship - sanctuary. Earthly did not suffest any feature displeasing to God. It pointed out that the tabernacle was material, imperfect and temporary. the earthly tabernacle belonged to this world, but Jesus ministered in heaven.

the tabernacle had two parts. First indicated the room closer to the entracne from the outer courtyard - the holy place. It was approximately thirty feet long, fifteen feet wide and fifteen feet hight. This room contained a lampstand, a table and the bread of the presence (Ex 35:10-29)

this is the tabernacle of the Israelites in the wilderness, not the temple in Jerusalem. we are like in the wilderness as well. we do not need to spend too much attention on the significance of each of these items, but rather their indication about God, His nature and His relationship with people。

lampstand

table with consecrated bread

curtain

Most holy place

golden altar of incense

gold covered ark of the covenant

gold jar of manna

aaron’s staff

stone tablets of the covenant

cherubim of the Glory above the ark

a curtain separated the Holy place from the second part of the old tabernacle - the most holy place. SEcond distinguished this curtain from the curtain between the outer court and the Holy Place. Once a year on the Day of Atonement the high priest passed through this curtain into God’s presence. This veil symbolized the barrier between a holy God and sinful people. At the death of Christ this veil was torn from top to bottom.

the golden altar of incense was located in front of the curtain so that it actually stood in the Holy Place. this incense altar was vital for the buning of incense on the Day of Atonement, so it is associated it with the Holy of Holies

the gold-covered ark of the covenant was a box or chest about four feet long and two and one-half feet high and broad, covered with gold on every side. The ark contained three treasures. The gold jar of manna was a reminder of God’s faithful provision during the wilderness wanderings. Aaron’s staff that had budded reminded readers of God’s powerful warning against complaint and faulfinding. The stone tablets of the covenant reminded them of God’s expectations, and pointed as we will soon see, to the minsitry of Christ.

the Cherubim situated above the ark symbolized the presence of God. They were probably winged creatures. They overshadowed the atonement cover, also called the mercy seat. The high priest sprinkled this part of the ark with blood on the Day of Atonement.

God is particular about how people approach him. not only does God desire people to approach him, but the OT regulations for worship suggest that God has in mind specific requirements for our drawing near. Unless we conceive of God as a petty diety who hands out regulations on a whim, we must ask, “why such detial?” In the Pentatuech the coomands concerning all aspects of Israel’s life, including its acts of worship, strike the reader both for their comprehensive scope and for their minute parts.

the commands described may stike us that he is the commanding God of ritualistic detail. but a more accurate reading of the forms and fomalities of woship shows us the love of a Creator whose children have run into the night and cannot find their way home on their own. The tabernacle worship centers around, and calls us to, movement toward God, a movement in which we celebrate his presence, living in awe of his majestic holiness. Since God placed the tabernacle at the center of Israel’s existence, his presence in the midst of his people would seem to be at the center of God’s plan.

Paul in 1 Cor. 14:26; 40 talks about being orderly in our worship.

come with preparation - your attire, your time, your offering, your effort (Holy Communion), some decoration.

Greater honour/Sacrifice (v6-10)

the priests entered regularly into the outer room, the Holy Place, to carry out their ministry. they lighted the lamps daily, replaced the loaves of bread every Sabbath, and burned incense on the golden altar. The daily daily repetition of these minsitries showed that they never resulted in acces to God.

only high priest entered the inner room

only once a year with blood shed

outer room or inner room? only through Jesus, not our gifts and sacrifices

In the OT, only the priest is allowed to bring sacrifice to the Lord. And only the high priest is allowed to enter the holy of holy once a year for the atonement – pray for forgiveness for the Israelites. And the same idea was carried down in the church history, until the reformer reformed the church.

For Protestant, every Christian is a priest. Priesthood of all believer. If we are a priest, what sacrifices are we to bring to the Lord? 1 Peter 2:5, you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

“Spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God”. Praises, prayers, thanksgiving, repentance. Every one of us who are in the worship should bring these spiritual sacrifices to God. In 1 Chronicles 23-27, as part of David’s plan in building the temple of worship, he assigned the Levites, the priests, with different duty. He divided them into groups. Some become singers, some become gatekeepers, some become treasurers looking after the dedicated things.

David was trying to build a proper worship system. In our church, all are priests. Ushers, liturgists, responsive readers, worship team, lcd projector, PA controller. We only have one intention – offer our spiritual sacrifice acceptable to God. Whenever we serve, ask ourselves two questions.

1) Am I offering spiritual sacrifice? – spirit (whole body)

2) Am I offering acceptable sacrifice? – our attitude, our readiness

Above all, it must be a sacrifice. Sacrifice means it costs you something.

the path of the priests from the outer court to the inner sanctuary paints a picture of movement toward God. the regulations provided a means of drawing near.

Greater Encounter/ministry/effect

now we are worshiping at the greater and more perfect tabernacle

through Jesus Christ

come with expectants wholeheartedly. Have confidence in approaching God.

James 4:8 “8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

let Jesus be the centre of our worship. God does not leave us to make a way into his presence. He gives specific instructions, for he is holy and we are sinful. there can be no digging a tunnel underneath the walls of the Most Holy Place, no barging in to demand our right to see God, no philosophizing about the “social constrcuts of religious knowledge.”

the whoe idea of holiness and wholeness. the term holiness has several uses in contemporary culture, few of them positive in the minds of hte general pupulous. the image of a distant god, untouchedable by real human concerns and frailties, or a holier than thou person who reeks with judgmental attitudes both are too common. When we speak of a person as being holy, the connotations normally have to do with a committed abstinence from most of what people call neccessities - food, sex, drink, fun. Further, holiness may be seen as having to do with repetitive religious practices that seemingly are irrelevant forthe fast pace of contemporary life.

the problem of monotomy and repetitive. Some moderns would look at a passage like Hebrews 9:1-10 and yawn at the sheer monotony. yet monotony may be a sign of vibrant, pulsating existence that revels in a place, time, and practice of what is right and beautiful. A child kicks its legs rhyhmically through excess, not absence, of life. because children have abounding vitlity, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again,” and the grown up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again,” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again.” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike: it may be that God makes every daisy separately , bu has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetitie of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.

the tunr of seasons, the beating of a heart, the year to year march through the decades of a committed marriage - all are signs of life that can never be labeled dull. God seems to like rhythms, and we must join him in the rhythm of holiness: drawing near, living in a monotonous submission to his will. Jesus reflected perfectly this type of holiness, a wholenss of life centered on the perfect and beautiful will of God.

if the blood of animals can provide external cleaning, how much more effective is the cleansing of Christ’s blood. Three features made Christ’s cleansing effective, which we no longer need to rely on other things.

first, Christ made the offering trough the eternal Spirit. This is probably not a reference to the Holy, but to Christ’s own spirit. Christ made an inner spiritual response in whice he offered himself. his response was not merely outward but inward and eternal.

Second, Christ offered himself. Christ’s offering was voluntary, and it represented an intelligent act of spiritual obedience to God.

third, Christ offered his unblemised character ot God. Jesus responded in perfect moral purity. the sacrifice was of infinite value.

Conclusion

the old sanctuary and ceremonies of the Levitical ritual offered no effective remedy for sin.

the tabernacle set up by Moses on God’s instructions was intended as a “copy and shadow” of the true heavenly sanctuary. It foolws, therefore, that a study of the “copy” can be expected to yield by anology a better understanding of the heavenly ministry of our great high priest. the provisions for worship under the old covenant were the Holy Spirit’s way of preparing us for something better to come and as such were not in themselves adequate to meet te needs of the worshipers. they did not provide access to the presence of God, and dealt only with external purification not with the sinner’s conscience. the ground is prepared for the explanation of the new order brought about by the superior sacrifice of Christ, which will be the theme of the letter form 9:11 to 10:18.