Acceptable Worship (outline)

“Acceptable Worship”

Text: Hebrews 12:18-29

Series: Christ-Centered Endurance

What acceptable worship is (Intro)

Hebrews 12:28 Introducing Worship

Is worship more important than missions?

“Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. …When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever.” - John Piper

So, if worship is of such importance, then we must know what worship is and what makes it acceptable to God.

What is worship (in light of Hebrews)?

Style of church service.

Music part of a church service.

Worship, in light of Hebrews:

Congregational context

“Worship is an engagement with God on the terms that he proposes, and in the way that he alone makes possible.” - David Peterson

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...thought is that of prostration, of bowing down. - G. Campbell Morgan

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To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, and to devote the will to the purpose of God. - John MacArthur Jr.

There is an even more precise way that we should consider worship, based on our current passage:

ANSWER: Acceptable worship is our careful response to God’s Greatness. v. 28

Why needed?

Reckless Worship. The ditch of worship without carefulness. This is the worship of experience.

To pretend a homage [respect] to God, and intend only the advantage of self, is rather to mock him than worship him. When we believe that we ought to be satisfied, rather than God glorified, we set God below ourselves...we make ourselves more glorious than God. - Stephen Charnock

Careless Worship. The ditch of worship without awe or affection. This is the worship of form.

Legalism lacks the supreme sense of worship. It obeys but it does not adore. - Geerhardus Vos

True worship is to be so personally and hopelessly in love with God that the idea of a transfer of affection never even remotely exists. - A.W. Tozer

“worship ground you walk on”

Let us worship God acceptably!

What leads us to acceptable worship (v. 18-21)

ANSWER: What leads people to acceptable worship is seeing the greatness of God through His all-powerful word.

Recalling the Mt. Sinai [Old Covenant] Encounter (Hebrews 12:18). Exodus 19:12-19.

Recoiling at the Voice of God Hebrews 12:19-20.

This is a FRIGHT fear. Punishment.

Requesting a Mediator (Hebrews 12:21)

The elements the writer uses point to what is still called “Acts of God” in insurance.

Illustration: Recent lightening strikes in DC or Tornados…etc or Lightening strikes in the ocean. These events leave you feeling little and helpless.

Problem today: we don’t feel little and helpless anymore.

In Isaiah 6:4, it was the voice of the LORD that caused the door posts to shake.

Without this kind of inner tremble, there is no stunned worship.

Application:

Who do you fear?

Matthew 10:28 “28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Ecclesiastes 12:13 “13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”

Do you fear His Word?

The fear of the Lord leads us to worship acceptably, but it cannot cause us to worship acceptably. All we can do is tremble and hope for a mediator.

What makes acceptable worship possible (v. 22-24)

The Writers Contrasts Again

Hebrews 12:22

Illustration: Imagine it. Describe it. The Breaker’s Mansion.

Summer get-away

Ocean front views

50 foot high ceilings

13 acre property

70 total rooms

48 bedrooms

27 fireplaces

Crystal Chandelier

Newport, RI

140,000 ft sq.

300 windows

The Breaker’s Mansion is a real place, though you have never seen it, but I can describe it to you and lead you to imagine what this real place is like.

So does the writer here. There is a real place, and these individuals who have believed on Christ have come to this place spiritually.

Heaven

Contrast:

Not Mt. Sinai, but Mt. Zion (city of living God) - v. 22.

Not earthly Jerusalem, but heavenly Jerusalem

Not to a miserable gathering but to a festive gathering of angels

Not to stepchildren, but to the church who are firstborn (plural) in the Firstborn (Christ) - v. 23

Not to a middle-manager, but to God the Judge

Not to commoners, but to saints who have gone before

Not to Moses, but Jesus the Mediator - v. 24

Not the Old Covenant, but the New Covenant

Not to the blood of Abel, but the eternal blood of Jesus.

You have full access to the presence of God.

How?

The Blood of Jesus Christ.

Notice: Hebrews 12:24. What has the blood of Jesus done? It has done what the prior blood could never do. Hebrews 9:14-15.

illustration: dental inspection

But why?

Why would the blood of Jesus be able to cleanse the consciences of the worshippers and allow us access. Hebrews 9:24.

Jesus’ Blood is Better (than Abel’s) - v. 24

Jesus’ blood is the lifeblood of the Perfect, sinless Worshiper.

Jesus carefully responded to the greatness of God by offering himself in the ultimate act of worship.

Matthew 4:8-10.

Though Jesus worshipped God alone, He suffered the fate of an idolator.

ANSWER: What makes acceptable worship possible is that the Perfect Worshiper Jesus responded to the greatness of God by His sacrifice.

“Because Christ offered himself for us, believers now offer him our whole lives — all we think, do, and say — as a worshipful sacrifice.” - Matt Merker

Application:

Do you have Jesus?

Acceptable worship is impossible without Jesus.

True worship requires the cleansing work of Jesus upon your conscience.

Illustration: Samaritan Woman

A trembling fear of the Person of God leads us to worship but does not make worship possible.

Jesus makes worship possible, but what is the foundation of worship? What are the guard rails of acceptable worship?

What is the foundation of acceptable worship (v. 25-27)

Illustration: reckless worship, everything goes for experience / careless worship, affection-less

God is Speaking! Hebrews 12:25.

ANSWER: The Word of God is the foundation of acceptable worship.

(1) Telling them to heed God’s Word (v. 25) (Hebrews 1:1-2)

(2) Reminding them about the judgment of God’s Word (v. 25) (Hebrews 4:12)

(3) Forecasting truth about God’s Word (26-27).

There is one more worldwide earthquake coming.

Application:

Are you truly prepared?

Acceptable worship is founded upon the word of God not on how we subjectively feel.

what should be causing you to feel something is a deep look at the word of God and not the aesthetics, the lights, the mood, the music, or the entertainment of a congregational service.

Are you expecting from men what only God can do through his word?

The Word of God, Jesus, will bring about the end of all temporary things. Revelation 19:11-13.

Conclusion:

What the acceptable worship principle is (v. 28-29)

In Christ, We Have Received An Unshakeable Kingdom (v. 28)

Illustration: Goldsworthy, God’s People in God’s Place, Under God’s Rule…Gospel of Matthew

contrast USA, China, Russia, North Korea…etc

Therefore have grace (thankfulness) (v. 28)

Worship God reverently and in awe (v. 28)

God is a Consuming Fire (v. 29)

The difference is NOT God. (Ill: Marcion Heresy)

The difference is that we have access to this God.

The awe must lead to the offer of worship.

What was irreverent worship?

No evidence of Hebrew worship wars (choir, drums, pews, music…etc) Should be asking, “What is the foundation of worship?”

Careless instead of careful worship.

Thoughtless instead of thoughtful worship.

ANSWER: The principle is that through carefulness and thoughtfulness of God’s word we can be led to respond to His greatness acceptably.

What must our thoughts be shaped by?

That Jesus is better than angels.

That Jesus is the better Moses.

That Jesus is the better Priest.

That Jesus’ blood is the better blood.

You will never be in awe of God until we carefully consider Christ.

Illustration: Story of Swiss Biologist, Louis Agassiz and the Power of Observation. [https://jamesclear.com/louis-agassiz]

Conclusion:

App:

(1) Expand your definition of worship to include more than just music.

Did you carefully consider what you have sung today?

(2) Examine what you what you like about worship with the Bible.

Are you carefully examining the scriptures?

(3) Envisage the simplicity and profundity of the gospel in your worship (blood still speaks).

Have you been made a worshipper?

(4) Exclude all things, if you must, but do not exclude the Word in worship.

Should we read more/less in worship? What about unwitting distractions?

(5) Exult in the Person of God.

The goal of congregational worship is not the establishment of a mood according to our whim by the exaltation of God’s majesty according to His word.

Acceptable worship is our careful response to God’s Greatness. v. 28