“Right God Wrong Way”

The ancient man approached God (or even the gods) as the accused person approaches his judge. For the modern man the roles are reversed. He is the judge: God is in the dock. He is quite a kindly judge: if God should have a reasonable defense for being the god who permits war, poverty and disease, he is ready to listen to it. The trial may even end in God’s acquittal. But the important thing is that Man is on the Bench and God in the dock.

It sure does seem this way today. It seems for me at least, I do spend a lot of time feeling the need to defend God for all the things going on in this world. Why does God not do something about this or that, how could he allow this to happen, why is he so absent when so much is going on. Covid, the war, the civil unrest, and the blasphemy. He does not seem like a good God to me. And I go on and on defending and they go on and on accusing. God is on the dock while we sit on the bench.

But family, we are all gonna find out something very clear in light of our misguided and misrepresenting assumptions about how things really are. We may believe that God owes us a thing or two. God owes us an explanation. God owes us acceptable intervention. God needs to explain Himself to us. But in reality family… God owes us nothing. And we will find out in the end that we are on the dock and the Lord is on the bench. Judgement is coming and is not gonna be God on trial.

Ezekiel 20:3 ESV

“Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God, Is it to inquire of me that you come? As I live, declares the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you.

And the Lord goes on to tell of the judgement that is coming. We saw that judgement is coming and that the judgement would begin with the house of the Lord. But why? Interesting that it is not for the things we might think. We might think it is because fo the times we have lied to other people. Times were were unfaithful to each other. Time we were violent. Times we stole. Times we gossiped. Times we were greedy. Times we ignored the law of God. Times we cheated. Times we were disrespectful. Times we even killed. But no, we are being judged for for what we might think is strange. We are being judged for the way we worship God.

We can be very concerned about the actual that we worship. Making sure that we worship God. Thinking we are ok as long as we worship God. The main thing is that we worship God. As long as we worship God… We are good. We are well. We got nothing to worry about. But that is not the truth. How we worship God, matters as well. This is the essence of the 2nd commandment. We gotta worship the right God the right way. Judgement is coming. But Shane common man. I’m worshipping God. Is that not enough? Who care how I worship Him as long as I’m worshipping Him. No No No. What we are gonna see today… Judgement is coming because we are worshipping the right God the wrong way.

But Shane, is there no hope? Can we be saved from the coming judgement? You bet we can and we are gonna find out how.

Zephaniah 1:4–6 NLT

“I will crush Judah and Jerusalem with my fist and destroy every last trace of their Baal worship. I will put an end to all the idolatrous priests, so that even the memory of them will disappear. For they go up to their roofs and bow down to the sun, moon, and stars. They claim to follow the Lord, but then they worship Molech, too. And I will destroy those who used to worship me but now no longer do. They no longer ask for the Lord’s guidance or seek my blessings.”

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.

On the Leaders

On the Practice

On His Shoulders

The first thing we will look at today is how the judgement of God begins with the house of God, and beginning with the leaders of the house of God. Second, we will explore some of the actual idolatrous practices that the people would be judged for. Finally, we will see how the judgement that fell upon our Lord Jesus is what will bring us salvation and reason we can rejoice in the Lord today.

Thesis: Though sin and the pattern of this world may cause us to practice unwarranted practices when we worship the Lord, it is the truth of scripture and the power of the Holy Spirit that will open our eyes to see the reality of our sin, but also the good news of the gospel and the wonders of His salvation.

I. On the Leaders

- Judgement on those in charge.

A. Last week we saw the reality of the judgement of God that is coming and we also saw that it would begin with the house of the Lord. It would begin in the church. And this week we will see some of the reasons why the judgement of God is coming upon His people. And the answer is worship. And I know for many, it seems like such a strange thing. Shane I can see, being judged for not worshipping God, but being judged for worshipping God? Seems strange. Strange it is, but strange is the reason. It is because we bring strange worship. We offer to the Lord strange fire. And Nadab and Abihu can tell us about judgement for worshipping the Lord in strange ways. And it starts with the priests. The leaders.

B. Remnants of the awful Baal worship was still present and continuing to affect the people of God. Baal was the Caananite God over land fertility. When the Israelites came into the land they were taught by the Canaanites to worship Baal for good crops. Make Baal happy and he will bless your crops. And the temples of Baal had prostitutes, music, and narcotics to achieve an altered state of consciousness. The temples of baal were places for sex drugs and rock and role. The Canaanites were there and they taught the people to worship Baal.

C. And it was the priests that let it happen. The priests encouraged it. The idolatrous priests that brought this worship to the people will be judged. When God judges the church He’s gonna start with the leaders in the church.

D. Martin Luther said that when he preached he was surprised that people could hear his sermon over the sound of his knees knocking because he was afraid of offending God. And to add to that, is there a sense where the leaders in our churches today are afraid of leading God’s people astray? This is the real pressure that we as Pastor’s of churches should feel. Pressure to grow, pressure to succeed, pressure to win… NO. The fear of not leading God’s people into Idolatry or bad worship practices. The reality is that we are going to be judged.

E. This is why there is a strong command by God for the people of the church to submit to their leaders in the church… because one day I will be judged by God for all members of CBC. So you can be assured, I’m not messing around. You don;t have to remind me… I know I’m gonna have to stand before God and be judged for everything I’m doing.

Hebrews 13:17 ESV

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

F. When I wake up with Monday morning blues … discouraged, I often think of this story. The story is told of a young minister who was mentored by the great John Brown wrote to him complaining that all the churches around him are growing and got lots of people and he remains small. John Brown wrote back, “I know the vanity of your heart, and that you will feel mortified that your congregation is very small, in comparison with those of your brethren around you; but assure yourself on the word of an old man, that when you come to give an account of them to the Lord Christ, at His judgment-seat, you will think you have had enough.”

G. Judgement is coming. Judgement will begin with the House of God. And judgement on the house of God will begin with the leaders.

II. On the Practice

- The right God the wrong way.

A. Number 1. Individualized Worship. The first thing we see when it comes to the right God wrong way worship of the people is that they go to the roof of their houses. The idea of gag or roof could be understood as a high place closer to the stars, but OT scholars suggest something different here. You know those who say… hey I don’t need to go to church, I’ll just stay home and worship God in my own way. Stay home. Watch this.

B. People used their roofs at that time to be a place of actual living. It was like a patio. They ate drank had parties ect. on the roof. Al Hag gag got going up to the roof suggest the idea of our personal space for our personal agenda. Dr. O Palmer Robertson writes, “Worshipping on their rooftops suggest in part the idea of an individualized, domestic control of worship. On the private housetop each person could worship in a manner that pleased only himself.”

- There ya go. The do what you like church. Not the way we need church. It’s the have it your way church. Worshipping the way you want church. But many times it becomes the wrong way worship personal church if there is any worship at all. We need to be careful about this kind of individualized thinking. Just don’t do it.

Hebrews 10:25 NLT

And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

C. And it has always been my experience that it never is the way it is described. Now this is not against home churches.... actual gatherings in the home to have formal worship. Most of the times when I am told this. I worship at home in my own way. It just does not happen. Or if it does most of the time, it is right God wrong way worship. It begins when we take on the thinking that we can do it our way, the way we want. Individualized Worship. And what were they doing?

D. Occultic Worship. The people were mixing the worship of God with occultic practices. The worship of the Sun Moon and stars. Seeking its guidance and its message. This was a practice that was strictly forbidden in the scriptures.

Deuteronomy 17:3–5 NLT

For instance, they might serve other gods or worship the sun, the moon, or any of the stars—the forces of heaven—which I have strictly forbidden. When you hear about it, investigate the matter thoroughly. If it is true that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, then the man or woman who has committed such an evil act must be taken to the gates of the town and stoned to death.

E. And as clear and forceful this is, different forms of modern astrology, seeking guidance, hope and comfort in the stars, is being practiced by evangelicals everywhere. General astrology, natal astrology which relies on the zodiac, interrogatory astrology and its chart readings, zodiac matches with enneagram symbols, and those astrological practices that rely on the horoscope.

F. Did you know that a recent Pew study was done on astrology. 30 percent of adults in the US practice or believe in astrology. One in every three. But this was shocking to me. As emphatically condemning as the scriptures are of any astrological practice, it was found that 26 percent of Christians believe in or practice some form of astrology. One out of 4 Christians do this. Wow. Just wow.

G. How is it that this happens? How is it possible for confessing Christians to be worshipping God and finding guidance though the heavenly host? Why do I hear about professing Christians calling up psychic hotlines and why Christians practice tarot card readings that they now call destiny cards? Why do we do this?

H. Because these things appeal to our natural curiosity. We begin with things that seem harmless at first and then the next thing we know we are in too deep. The occult gives us quick and easy answers to our life. We find our lives completely panned out by the stars, our horoscope and tarot cards give us quick direction, and the psychic gets us in touch with dead loved ones. And they are for the most part the answers and information we want to hear. Whether we believe they are true or not.

I. But Shane they work. Astrology works. I’m not saying that they don’t work. I am saying that the Bible says that these things are wicked and evil practices. These are the things that we are not to do. But because it gives us our immediate and instant gratification, we do it anyway. And our leaders lead us that way.

III. On His Shoulders

- The Chastisement of our peace was upon Him.

A. And we do this because of this thing called sin in our lives. One of the things made clear at the fall; the beginning of it all is that we want to do things our own way. We want our independence. Sure we will worship the living God but we want to do it the way we want. We want to incorporate what we want. But what we see clear here, is that when we worship the right God the wrong way, we are breaking the 2nd commandment and liable for judgement.

B. And the judgement of the Lord is real.

Acts 17:31 NLT

For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead.”

C. Judgement is real and judgement is coming. Sin is real and we are all affected by it. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. No one is righteous no not one. There is no one on earth who always does good and never sins. But I don’t do the really bad sins gimme a break. If a person keeps all of the laws except for one is as guilty as a person who has broken all the laws. And what of judgement?

D. The wages of sin is death. Eternal condemnation. Eternal fire. Destruction. The place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. Hell family Hell. Can we be saved from this. Yes we can.

E. Salvation belongs to the Lord. Salvation is here. Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures then he buried and he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. He became sin who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

F. That is the beauty of the gospel. He came to live the life that we could never live and he died the death that we deserved to die. Yes he made a way for us today. All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If we confess with out mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead you will be saved.