Worship: Timeless and Temporary (Hebrews Sermon 34)

Well, I’ll never forget one particular morning, I know I’ve mentioned it before from this pulpit, when Christi and I were serving as missionaries in Japan, Tuesday, January 17th, 1995, the earth, literally, shook beneath my feet. 5:46 AM, I was getting ready to go for breakfast and prayer time with my Japanese pastor and his wife, and the great Kobe earthquake shook the ground. Over 5,000 people were killed in that city. No great tragedies like that in Tokushima where we were, but unbelievable power and strength to that earthquake, lasted 46 seconds. I remember the curtains swaying back and forth as though it was a windy day. I remember the floor shaking so much that the toilet water slashed out of the bowl, it was just an unbelievable time. The kind of thing… I don’t even think I was terrified, I just didn’t know what was happening. It was so amazing and astonishing, and then it hit me, we’d been in an earthquake, and how incredible that was.

And I remember also after that, in the weeks that followed, the after shocks. I remember seeing the kids’ pool in the back and you could see ripples in the pool when those after shocks would come. Some of them are very weak, some are stronger, but it’s a very unsettling thing to think that the ground beneath your feet, the very Earth under your feet can move. It leads you to wonder what is eternal, what is unshakable, what is that that we can hold on to that will never change, that will never move? And I think this is a question that’s in front of us. Change itself is a difficult thing. For myself, as I look at my own life, I think about my own… The changes that have happened to me. You grow up, you get stronger, you get older, you gain certain capabilities, you reach your peak, but you didn’t know at that time that was your peak. And then you kind of plateau for a while and then you get into regression, and you age. And thank you elderly saints for reminding me just what that’s like, alright? And giving us vivid testimony to that.

Meanwhile, you see your own children then following in your footsteps. And again, acquiring capabilities, the ability to stand and then to walk and to talk, and then little by little, they just are able to do more and more, but then they’re grown and gone. And so, change itself starts to feel a bit like an enemy. In that hymn, “Be still my soul when it talks about when change is passed.” I say Amen when we sing it, we don’t see that hymn very often, but there’s something powerfully painful sometimes about change. And so, we look for stability and we think if there’s one place that we can find it, it’s in our religion. We come to church every week and we celebrate timeless unchanging truths about almighty God and we find security and stability in that. It just never changes and we love that, but then there are certain aspects of our church experience that do change. The songs that we maybe enjoyed in a certain way that we enjoyed them when we’re growing up. Other people that come along later, younger people don’t enjoy it in the same way. And so certain patterns of worship change around us and it begins to get a bit unstable, and we wonder what we can really hold onto? Is there anything really permanent, anything that we can grab onto?

And then a valid question, and as we come to this text here in Hebrews 12, 25-29, we look at two categories of things that are mentioned here, those things which can be shaken, and those things which cannot be shaken. So I’m jumping out of order. In my sermons in Hebrews to look at this passage in particular, more on that in a moment. But there are two categories of things here. Those things that can’t be shaking our eternal, they’re timeless, they never move. And then there are those things that can be shaken which the author tells us are created things, those physical things around us that can be shaken. And you may ask, “Why are you jumping a out of order?” First of all, I am. If you’ve been away and you came back, I didn’t just hit the overdrive and we just zoomed through chapters 9, 10 and 11 of all things. Hebrews 11, when did that… I was looking forward to Hebrews 11 and now here we are, what happened?

Well, I jumped ahead, and we did it for a reason, because today the elders want to communicate to the church, and we want to speak about something that’s been on our heart for a couple of years now, and it just has to do with patterns of corporate worship that we feel it’s time to change. And those patterns are significant enough to mention it and to talk about it, and we’ll give more details this evening, but my role this morning is to talk about these two categories of things and to give us a sense of those things that can never change, must never change, will never change by God’s grace here in this church. And those things that must change. Our desires as elders at First Baptist Church is to conduct worship services every week that are faithful to those things that can never change, the unshakable things, the unshakable truths of God’s word, but to do that in a temporary culture, in a temporary time, in a temporary building, with temporary musical instruments and temporary patterns, to marry those two together in a way that honors God.

And as we do that, to constantly in a winsome, delightful, God honoring way, connect with the generation that we’re called on to reach with the gospel, the generation that we’re called on to disciple and train up in the faith. And so that’s the challenge that’s in front of us. And as for me, as I look at this, I tend to see a lot of times visually, and I see us traveling on a narrow road with steep slippery slopes on either side. Recently I watched the YouTube video of a guy called ‘The Swiss machine’, and this guy is a free soloist rock climber, who climbed the Eiger North Face. Usually takes about two days to do it, climbed it without any equipment just these two picks, almost ran up the side of this mountain, vertical mountain, in two hours and 37 minutes. Just about freaked me out watching this thing. It was scary to watch, there’s helicopters videoing this guy, etcetera. No ropes, nothing, just him in the mountain side and a tremendous amount of skill, and an awful lot of foolishness, in my opinion.

But the worst part of all for me visually, was when he got to the top of the Eiger, and it’s just a knife edge and it’s just as steep on the other side. And he was running to get the quickest time he could, running along the ridge to the summit. And I’m just, “Wow!” I just had a hard time watching it, especially because he stumbled a little bit. The crampon stumbled a little bit. I’m like, “I don’t want to watch this guy die.” Well, I knew he didn’t die, but it was just… Now, for us elders, it’s not so dramatic, alright? Not so spectacular, but still there is that sense of kind of a slope on the left and on the right. What are those slopes? Well, on one side you have the danger of theological compromise, a biblical compromise, that we would give in on certain aspects of the Gospel to please our surrounding culture and to satisfy itching ears, to compromise aspects of the Gospel to make people happy and comfortable in their rebellion against God. That we must never do, it’s a danger though.

But there is an opposite danger, and that’s something that’s been growing in my mind and the mind of the elders. And I don’t even know, I guess, how to describe it, but I’ve seen it and I’ve been to certain churches, that it just seems that they’re frozen in time, just the world moved on. The music, the visual sense, the way that the people are, the way that they carry themselves, it just seems disconnected from the world that surrounds us. And so, as I think about that, as I look at that, I trace it back to what I think is probably a cowardly lack of following the Holy Spirit when the spirit said it was time to move out of certain patterns and keep moving. And as I look at it, I don’t think that the reason that that church, and is characterized by a constant aging process, few and fewer younger people are involved, few and few younger families, not many baptisms. The babies that are celebrated being born are grandchildren and great grandchildren, they’re not born in that church, born in other churches and in other states.

And as I try to diagnose what’s going on there, I don’t think it’s primarily an issue that that church didn’t keep with it in terms of corporate worship, it’s not so much that. I think, a far bigger issue is a cowardly and faithless retreat from evangelism, from encountering lost people and seeking to bring them to faith in Christ. Why do we do it? Because it’s not comfortable. A close cousin or maybe even a brother of that same mentality is we don’t want any trouble in church either, we don’t want to offend people, we don’t want to have difficulties with church people, we don’t want to ruffle any feathers. Let’s just keep everything the same. And so, as a result of those things, the far greater being a lack of engagement with the outside world in the Evangelism, both of them trace to our own levels of comfort, what we feel good about, what makes us feel comfortable, because life is difficult and it’s painful, and I just like a place of peace and security and comfort where I can be happy, and I just want to make it through and go to heaven.

Look, I understand that, I know that, but God hasn’t called us to step back and retreat, but to engage and to hurt and to suffer and to allow the Lord to bind up our wounds and to keep going and serving him until we at last get to the place where there’s no more death or mourning, or crying or pain and I would say no more change. We’re not there yet. And so, I have a picture of myself in a kind of a shady arbor, with a nice stream going by and fruit you can just reach and grab off the bush, and it’s just comfortable, and it’s like the Lord’s standing and saying, “Get up and move. We can’t stay here. So if we do, I’ll move on and you’ll be left behind.” So that’s the opposite danger.

And so I want to communicate from the book of Hebrews what… Just some preliminary thematic concepts, the details will be tonight, of those things that can never change about corporate worship and those things that must be constantly changed. I don’t mean constantly, like every week, but certainly every decade or two, so that we don’t get wrapped up into traditionalism in certain patterns that can never change to become idols really, that are frozen in time. And I think there’s no better book in the Bible to deal with this than the Book of Hebrews. And I think we’ve already laid enough groundwork for me to make that claim.

I tell you that no generation of Christians in history and Church history has ever had to make such significant changes in the area of corporate worship as did these Jewish Christians of the first century. It’s astonishing when you think about what God was asking them to leave behind more or less instantly, within their own generation, immediately leave it behind. Everything was changing. The Levitical priesthood was obsolete, the temple was obsolete, the animal sacrificial system was obsolete, the thrice annual pilgrimages to Jerusalem were obsolete, the distinctions between Jews and Gentiles beginning at the circumcision were obsolete, the dietary regulations were obsolete. It was all changing.

And what is more, the author to Hebrews, and we haven’t gotten there yet, in Hebrews 10, but the author of Hebrews in effect says, “If you don’t by faith, move on into the promised land of a new form of new covenant worship, of spiritual worship. If you don’t move on embracing an invisible high priest who is at the right hand of God and is ministering in an invisible way by the power of the Spirit and we no longer have a shrine that we’re going to, and we no longer have all of these old covenant patterns. If you do not move on into the promised land of new covenant worship, you’re really no better than that generation in the time of Moses that refused to enter the Promised Land, but shrank back through unbelief.” You can’t do it, the old covenant is over. And you need to move on. And so, the author at the end of Chapter 10, right before the faith chapter, he says this, “But my righteous one will live by faith.” You live by faith “and if He shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him. But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.”

That is a dynamic Christian life right there in those verses. We are going to live by faith, walk by faith, we’re going to move by faith, we’re not going to be shrinking back people. And then he immediately gives us Hebrews 11 to give us encouragement of what a life of faith looks like. God Himself instituted those very patterns of worship that were now obsolete, and God Himself was telling them to move on. Now, Jesus Christ in a beautiful and a powerful way, had prepared the people of his own generation for precisely these changes. I remember the encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well, and she’s talking about the place of worship, this mountain or that mountain and Jesus says, “Neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. There’s a whole new kind of worship coming. God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” More on that passage this evening.

But also very powerfully for me is Matthew 9-17, where Jesus again talking about a pattern of worship, in that case, fasting, gives this analogy of the Wine-skins. He said, “Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins and both are preserved.” Now, there’s a way to take that either individually or nationally corporately, I think both are fair enough. But here’s the thing, the new covenant that the Lord was coming and bring the new thing that Jesus was doing, the new wine was not going to be static, it was going to be dynamic, there was going to be moving, it was like wine, new wine still fermenting, giving off gases, and if that old wine skin can’t handle it, it’s going to rupture. And so you must be made flexible, you must yield to what the Spirit is doing or you will rupture.

And so I think any local church that isn’t submissive to the Holy Spirit as He moves, as He goes out in that direction, runs the risk of rupturing and that’s the warning I think that the wineskins gives us. So Jesus was preparing, and as I said, I think the book of Hebrews just does an admirable job addressing this, also because it talks about worshipping God acceptably. And so, it’s a good passage to address the issue of corporate worship.

I. Central Call: Do Not Refuse the Lord Who Speaks

Let’s look a little more carefully at Hebrews 12 and verse 25. And at the beginning, the central call this text is do not refuse the Lord who is speaking to us. Verse 25, “See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused Him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from Him who warns us from heaven.” The context of the statement, ordinarily, I would have already preached through this, so now I have to just go back and tell you what the author is doing here.

And in this section of Hebrews 12, he’s already contrasted this earthly mountain Mount Sinai with this heavenly Mount Zion, he’s drawn a contrast between the two. Mount Sinai represents earth and the earthly covenant of Moses, Mosaic covenant, and Mount Zion represents that heavenly future that we have in Christ. And so the contrast is very striking. I’m not going to go verse by verse, line by line, but Mount Sinai shook with the voice of God. It was a terrifying place with darkness and gloom and storm, and terrifying sounds like a trumpet blast in such a voice, speaking words at those who heard, begged that no further word be spoken because they couldn’t bear what was commanded. If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned. And Moses’ reaction, he said, “I’m trembling with fear.”

The author says, “You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, because they could not bear what was commanded: ‘If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.’ The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, ‘I am trembling with fear.’ But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”

You’ve come to a superior place that cannot be touched. So what is the author doing? He’s saying Mount Sinai can be touched, physical. We knew that stuff. Its type, its shadow, it’s finished, it’s done. Do not come to that. Now, we’ve come to a spiritual kind of worship and is meant for here and now, okay? Because he’s speaking. “You have now come to this mountain by faith you’ve come here now.” And we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. We haven’t finished receiving so it’s here now. We have in a very mysterious, powerful, spiritual way, come to this heavenly worship place, this Mount Zion and it’s so much better. It’s infinitely better in every way.

And so the author is saying, “We can’t refuse the one who’s speaking. The same one who spoke then is speaking now, the one who spoke the old covenant is now speaking the new covenant and we cannot refuse, because if we refuse we will be destroyed.” There’s a threat here the author is giving. And really the issue is coming to faith in Christ, believing in Jesus and not rejecting Christ as Savior, clearly, and if you turn away from that he says you will not escape, you will be destroyed. The first covenant people day they destroyed it, how much less could we, if we turn away from Christ, that’s what the author’s saying here. The same God is now speaking the new covenant.

II. What Can Be Shaken: Temporary Things

And then he talks about these things that can be shaken, those things that are temporary. Look at Verses 26 and 27, “At that time His voice shook the earth, but now He has promised, once more, I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” Verse 27, “The words once more indicate the removing of what can be shaken. So that what cannot be shaken may remain.” So the shaking of the earth represents those things that are transitory. They’re temporary, they’re created things and they’re only here temporarily. When I felt the earth moving under my feet, there in January of 95, I had a clear testimony that this earth is temporary, it’s not here permanently, it’s terrifying really, but it’s true.

And so the physical things of this world are merely temporary, and many passages teach us this, this passage does, we’ve already had one in Hebrews Chapter 1, Verse 10-12. You can go back there and look but in Hebrews 1:10-12, the author says, “In the beginning oh Lord, you laid the foundations of the Earth and the heavens of the work of your hands. They will perish, but You remain. They will all wear out like a garment, You will roll them up like a robe. Like a garment, they will be changed, but you remain the same and your years will never end.” Do you see the same thing? Things they can be shaken, and that which cannot be shaken. And so the universe itself is going to get rolled up like a robe and thrown away. Many passages testified of this truth. 2 Corinthians 4:18, says, that we walk by faith and not by sight, we trust in those things that cannot be seen not those things that can be seen, because those things that can be seen are temporary, but those things that cannot be seen are eternal. And so also in 2 Peter 3:10, we’re told that every physical element around us will be destroyed, melted in the heat, and the Earth and everything in it will be laid bare, everything is going to be destroyed. It’s all going to go.

What does that mean for our Sunday morning experience? Well, here we are at 414 Cleveland Street, in Durham, North Carolina. In case you didn’t know where you were. 414 is temporary friends. Cleveland Street is temporary. Durham is temporary and so is North Carolina. This building that was built here was built in 1927, it’s built in a new kind of classical neo-classical style, with the pillars out front, we’ve been told it looks like the post office. We have all kinds of interesting comments. There’s no steeple. I guess people think it looks like the post office or some of the governmental building, but a very magnificent structure with the steps in front. In 1927 it was established. It was built, the interior with a balcony with wings that reached to the left and the right, all the way to these walls.

Those were removed in the 1970s, amidst a very rancorous debate, I’m told, I wasn’t here, wasn’t even a Christian at the time, was alive, but didn’t care much about the balconies at First Baptist Church in Durham, North Carolina, I can assure you. Cared a lot about the Red Sox at that point, not much about the balconies. Still care about the Red Sox. Moving on. Balconies left and right. Lots of debate. Finally, they got taken down. I can’t imagine what this room was a look like when those balconies were being ripped down, but they say it’s just much lighter in here as a result, there’s much more light that streams in through the windows, but a lot of debate. Everything here’s temporary friends, if you don’t know, then just walk through the hall back here. Have you been through the hall recently? Don’t you love what we’ve done with it? Don’t you love the lime green paint that we have uncovered? It’s kind of growing on us. Like a mold, something like that. I don’t know what it is, but there it is, it’s temporary. Temporary, everything here, it’s all temporary. The pipe organ is gone, completely gone. You didn’t know that, did you?

I know you hear the sounds of a pipe organ, but there are no pipes. The pipe organ was removed in the 1990s. Again, amidst quite a debate and discussion, some purists wanted a real pipe-organ, but others say, “Look, the electronic versions are just as accurate.” Not one person in a million can tell the difference, and a lot more inexpensive. It’s temporary, the electronic one right here, temporary. We have this Steinway piano, beautiful instrument, it’s beautiful to hear the sounds that come from it, friends, it’s temporary. The carpet under your feet, it’s temporary, the pews that you’re sitting on are temporary, certain patterns of worship are temporary. When I first got here, the choir wore robes, maybe some of you remember that. They’re gone. Lots of changes have happened in the worship since I’ve been here, lots of changes that Eric has moved in. Some of them a little more subtle, some more significant. These chairs here are temporary, everything around you. So that’s what can be shaken.

III. What Cannot Be Shaken: Eternal Things

Okay, what cannot be shaken? Well, look again in verses 27-20, “The words ‘once more’ indicate the removing of what can be shaken, that is created things, so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we’re receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful.” Well, what cannot be shaken is already listed above this text in Hebrews 12. Mount Zion cannot be shaken. It is established and firm, in the heavenly realms, it cannot be shaken, it’s eternal, it’s permanent, God Himself and His throne cannot be shaken. Jesus, the mediator of the New Covenant, cannot be shaken. His blood has established forever a new covenant, it is permanent, timeless, it cannot be shaken. The Kingdom itself, I’ll talk more about this in a moment, it cannot be shaken. The countless worshippers that are up there, the spirits of righteous men made perfect, they cannot be shaken, they’re done with being shaken by the things of this world. All of these things cannot… And the scripture reveals other things than just in Hebrews 12 that cannot be shaken. The Word of God cannot be shaken. Heaven and Earth will pass away, but God’s word will never pass away. God Himself will never change, His characters His traits will never change. I, the Lord, do not change. So, you O Israel are not consumed, Malachi 3:6. He never changes.

He will not improve neither will Jesus ever change His nature. These things are timeless. They’re permanent and there are practical aspects of our worship that are not going to be done in Heaven, but are timeless and cross-cultural and are just going to be there and are such all over the world. They’re just parts of our present worship that cannot, will not change. God-centered worship. When we come together, we will celebrate God, we will celebrate Him, as He’s revealed in Scripture, His attributes and His actions, His accomplishments, we’re going to celebrate God, we’re going to celebrate Jesus Christ and His achievement at the cross. We’re going to keep preaching the same Gospel, we’re going to keep preaching Christ crucified and resurrected. That’s never going to change, and every word that we say and sing, and the comments, we’re going to keep testing it by the grit of truth, the scripture is going to be the truth test, always. And so whatever lyrics we’re singing it must be true, or we’re not going to sing it. Prayer, and the public reading of scripture will not change. The consistent exposition of the Word, the proclamation of the Word is not going to change. We’re going to sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

It’s right in the New Testament, we’re going to do it, it’s not going to change. We’re going to be physically assembling together in a place of worship, and not forsaking that, because Hebrews 10 says that we must not forsake it. We’re going to give ourselves faithfully to the administration of the ordinances that we saw of baptism, this week and I believe next week, is it Lord’s Supper? Next week, Lord’s Supper, prepare your heart for that. We are going to continue to faithfully Minister these two ordinances. We’re going to continue to collect money, tithes and offerings for the ongoing support of this church, of the evangelization, of the lost and the relief of the poor. Those things are timeless features. And if I worked at, I could tell you some others besides, and they come up out of the text’s scripture. For those of you that know what the regulator principle is, that’s what it means to me, is these patterns, these structures come from the scripture. That’s what it means to me.

IV. Let Us Worship God Acceptably

What then does it mean to worship God acceptably? Now, that’s the key question, isn’t it? Look at Verses 28-29. “Therefore, since we’re receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful. And so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”

What does that mean? Well, first, what I get out of these verses, is that there is such a thing as acceptable worship as and there is by contrast such a thing as unacceptable worship. We want, the elders at FBC want to do acceptable worship, we don’t want to worship God in a way that He does not accept. We believe that the word of God defines what that is in the New Covenant, we want to understand that. And so just looking carefully at these verses, the first thing the author gives us as the ground of our corporate worship, is the fact that we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Because, therefore, since we’re receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us worship God. So the foundation of our worship is what we are receiving in Christ. Oh, praise God for that. That is never going to change. And what does it mean that we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken? Well, to receive a kingdom means that you’re an heir. We’re going to talk more about this another place in Hebrews, but we are heirs of a kingdom, we are sons and daughters standing ready to inherit a kingdom.

We are receiving this kingdom, and it is a kingdom, therefore, that means that there’s a king, we will celebrate forever King Jesus, seated on His throne the exalted mighty one, that is Jesus, He is our king forever. We’re going to keep celebrating that, and because we are entering His kingdom, we will be subject to Him, every knee will bow and every tongue will swear that Jesus is Lord. We’re going to be on our faces before that mighty king, we’re receiving this kingdom, that cannot be shaken. And I’ve already talked about that, to say a little bit more, what could there ever be that could get Jesus off the throne of that kingdom? There is no power in heaven or earth or under the earth that can get Jesus off His throne. It is a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and because we are drawn in by faith, by repentance, by faith in the Gospel, we can’t be shaken either. But look at the kind of present progressive, I already mentioned this, but we are in the process of receiving this kingdom. We haven’t fully come into our inheritance yet, and because we are in the process of receiving this kingdom that cannot be shaken. And so that process has to do with internal journey and external journey, internal journey, sanctification, growing, becoming more like Jesus, as we kneel to Jesus more and more in every area of our lives, we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

And as we serve Him, and as we obey Him, and follow His precepts by the power of the Spirit, we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. But also as we take the gospel to the ends of the earth, we are seeing lost people come in, we yearn to see more baptisms. We want two grand tributaries into the baptismal area, we want the fruit of godly families, that we’ve seen this morning, where they raise up their children in the training and nurture of the Lord, and we want those that weren’t raised in godly families. That didn’t know anything about Jesus and then they meet someone from FBC and hear the gospel and they’re brought to faith, brought to the fun, to the baptismal area, They are baptized and then they are discipled, that’s what we want. We want both of those things. Don’t you? I yearn for that. And so we’re receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and because of that, what should we do, what does the text say? “Let us be thankful.” One translation says, “Let us have grace.” But most of the commentators say, this is clearly about thankfulness. It’s about gratitude, it’s about joy and celebration when we come together to worship, there should be strong themes of joy and celebration and happiness.

Our worship services should have the power to reach down into pits of discouragement and idolatry and other things that get us down and pull us out onto a solid rock of joy. And if the services are disconnecting and they’re not doing that and then we are not serving you well. If there’s a disconnect, a sameness, a blandness, and it’s just, Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it just is not rescuing you and bringing you into thankfulness for the kingdom, we’re not serving you well. So we’re receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, so we should be thankful. There should be just praise to God the Father for choosing you before the foundation of the world, the plan of God the Father, there should be thankfulness to Jesus for paying the price for you and me to be heirs. Shedding His blood, and thankfulness to Jesus for His mighty resurrection that gives us hope. And there should be thankfulness to the Spirit that He redeemed you, By His sovereign power. Let’s thank, let’s be thankful to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and in that way, worship God acceptably. But then it says with reverence and awe, reverence and awe.

The fear of the Lord must characterize our worship. A sense of the grandeur, the majesty, the glory of this thrice Holy God, we should have an encounter with this God, we should be on our faces, all the holy men and women of God, when they encounter God in Scripture, they tremble in His presence. And this text says, for our God is a consuming fire. He was a consuming fire then, He is a consuming fire now, He will never change. And so in some mysterious way, we elders have to put on worship services that celebrate joyfully and reverence our God is a consuming fire all together. How do we do that? How do we kind of curl up into the lap of “Abba Father” and say, “Daddy, I’m hurting, will you help me?” And you feel the eminence of God, that immediacy of a Emmanuel, of Jesus right with us, and at the same time, fear and awe and our God is a consuming fire, but we must, and that’s what we yearn to do. And so we have to find a way to celebrate, and not in some trite, trendy, entertainment-driven sort of way, for the fun. Everybody’s having a good time and all that. It’s like where is the holiness? Where is the majesty? It’s too flipping, too trite, too easy. But so also are simple assessments that say, If you use a certain guitar pattern or a certain way of doing rhythm that that is of necessity of that same worldly mindset, that is not necessarily the case. Stop judging by mere parents, but judge with right judgment, Jesus said.

So, our desire is to celebrate in an honorable way that worships God, that’s what we’re trying to do, for our God is a consuming fire.

V. Applications

So what applications can we take from this? Well, first and foremost, above all and forever, we yearn to preach the gospel here. And it could be that you came today and you don’t even know what the worship style at FBC is. It doesn’t mean anything to you at all, but you know this, you’re guilty of sin, and you know that you’re going to die someday, and you have no savior, there is no way you can stand before such a holy God on your own. I stand here today with brothers and sisters around me saying there is a Savior and His name is Jesus. Come to Christ, you can’t worship Him acceptably unless you come to Christ first. So trust in Him, be justified, that means forgiven of all of your sins by simple faith in Jesus, trust in Him, come to Christ. That’s the first application forever, friends.

But secondly, if you’re an FBC member, don’t be a stiff old wine skin, don’t be set in your ways. All of us are like this. We have to be ready for change. We have to realize that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father, except we’re not there yet, friends, we have a journey to travel, we have work to do. And I don’t want this church to become obsolete, friends, and don’t think it can’t happen. There are obsolete, local churches around. Some of them don’t know they’re obsolete, they still meet every week, but they are, and you’ve probably maybe even been there on a Sunday morning. I don’t want that ever happening here. And so I guess I’m asking you to be ready for some changes. Some of them we may embrace, some of them would be like, “At last, Hallelujah!” Some of you’re saying that, and others are like, “Oh no.” I was saying to somebody about this sermon, it’s kind of like a good friend of yours saying “I need to talk to you about something really important.” “Well, what is it?” “I can’t tell you, but let’s set up a time to do that.” Huh. Looking forward to that meeting, should be good.

Someone said, even worse, it’s like a doctor saying, “We got your test results, you need to come in, I want to talk to you.” And it’s like, “Okay”, well, it’s not like that second one, maybe not even like the first, but you’ll find out the details tonight, so come tonight. Some said we’re going to have really good attendance at Sunday evening worship tonight. That’s what the whole point. We’re trying to bump up our Sunday evening attendance and want more people to come on Sunday evening, so we’re just dangling suspense and turns out we’re introducing a new Keith and Christian Getty song tonight, and that’s it, that’s the whole thing. Well, no it isn’t, friends.

No. I would urge you, if you think you maybe in the category of those that might be reluctant to see any changes here. I guess I would urge you to educate yourself, in two senses, and maybe you can’t do this, but in your mind at least, or ask and find out, go around the world on the mission field, and find out, if you had the next year, 52 weeks. And were in a different country, a different local church, a different culture, every week. And then you came back, you’d be a different person, and you would know what I said in an Acts class a few years ago. God loves more worship styles than you do. So just go around the world now and find out that there are people in every tribe and language, and people, almost every tribe and language, people and nations that are worshiping in lots of different ways, but doing the same kinds of things I’ve listed out this morning. Scripture, songs and spiritual songs, celebrating Christ, etcetera. They’re doing it.

Secondly, go back in time, go across history. Friends, are you excited about us bringing Gregorian chants back here as our main style of worship? Would you love that? Look, I love chant music, I’ll listen to it from time to time, I don’t love it. I like it. Kind of. I mean I listen to it, I do, I love church history, and so, I listen and I kind of like it, I listen to it for a while and that’s it. I also have some medieval and Renaissance dance music I listen to from time to time, some of it’s worship music, sing it, you’re going to hear the word Hallelujah in there. Friends, worship has changed, you know that, you know it’s true. And so therefore the church must be changing. I do not say constantly, it’s not different every week, but definitely in quanta you can’t stay in one frozen place. Have to be willing to move on. And so for us to be eager to celebrate that, to look at certain patterns of worship, to say has traditionalism crept in here are some ways that we can reach across and grab hearts better than we’ve been doing, we want to look at that. So pray for the elders, ask God to open your heart. Part of the problem is that we need to consider others more important than ourselves in this. When you’re hearing a song, this may be your favorite song done in your favorite way, amen and joy, but the next song may not be. And while you were enjoying your favorite songs, someone else is reaching out to you and loving you and letting you have that song. And so we need to love each other enough to be a body of Christ in this, so I ask God to open your heart, pray for the elders to have wisdom. This is not easy.

It’s hard for us to assess patterns of worship, because yes, psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Yes, but what’s the tune? What’s the rhythm, what are the instruments? Doesn’t say. And so there has to be some wise judgment given in those areas. And come tonight to find out more details.

Close with me in prayer. Father, we thank you for this time we’ve had to study your word. Just pray in Jesus’ name, that you would guide this church, Lord, to offer up sacrifice, that’s pleasing and honorable to you, that is a joyful celebration and that also has a sense of the fear and trembling because our God is a consuming fire. God, give us a way to continue to grow and to be flexible and yielded to the Spirit and have our worship be very effective, both for Christians and then for outsiders who come in, that they may be drawn into faith in Christ. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

These are only preliminary, unedited outlines and may differ from Andy’s final message.

Opening illustration: The earth moved beneath my feet; Tuesday, January 17, 1995 at 5:46 am; the Great Kobe earthquake

Unsettling to realize the temporary nature of creation… everything around us is temporary; that feeling can be extremely troubling; we look for something permanent, something to cling to, something that never changes

Change itself if difficult to accept: we are personally changing constantly; we are aging, developing, at first for the better, then for the worse; children grow up, acquire new skills, parents are delighted; but then, the children are no longer children—they are grown adults; they no longer live at home, but are following their own life paths; we look in the mirror and see unmistakable signs of aging… the world around us is constantly changing as well; technology—especially electronic and computer technology—is constantly evolving before our very eyes; our cell phone becomes obsolete the week after we purchase it;

The one thing we feel we can turn to that never changes is our faith; we find stability and meaning as we go to church week after week and hear the timeless stories of the Bible; we embrace the doctrine of an unchanging God and an unchanging gospel, and we celebrate that with all our hearts; but even here, there is change; the songs we sung as children are no longer popular; another generation comes along and changes worship styles and the feel of church… we wonder if there is anything we can hold onto… anything that is truly timeless and permanent… that which cannot be shaken

This brings me to the point of this morning’s sermon… I have jumped out of order in Hebrews to reach for a passage in chapter 12 which speaks of two categories of things: those things which can be shaken (the temporary), and those things which can never be shaken (the permanent; the timeless)

The passage is especially relevant for us, because it commands us to “worship God acceptably”, and this is the deepest desire of the hearts of all the elders… to “worship God acceptably” in a temporary world, in a temporary culture, in a temporary building, with temporary instruments, and in temporary worship forms… to lead FBC rightly in the area of corporate worship—neither drifting to the right or the left, neither abandoning what must NEVER change about our faith, but at the same time being courageous enough to challenge temporary forms of worship and change them when the time comes to do so, so that FBC can still be connected to the culture and the times in which we live

Plain speaking: The elders at FBC have been praying about the forms of our corporate worship for several years; we have become increasingly burdened about the need to make changes that will enable us to connect with 21st century Americans in a way that is godly, without forsaking anything about our corporate worship that must never change. We see dangers on each side of the road we are seeking to travel: like the proverbial “third rail” in the subway that will electrocute anyone who touches it; or perhaps a better analogy is a steep slope heading down a cliff on each side… and we are seeking to walk in the middle

What are these opposite dangers? One the one side, the danger of theological compromise, of forsaking doctrinal truths that must never be forsaken; of doing this to please unsaved people, of making them comfortable in their rebellion against a Holy God; so, on the one side, we have the danger of forsaking what must never be forsaken… of uprooting pillars of our faith that are the very foundation of true, acceptable worship to Almighty God… of changing the gospel of Jesus Christ for something that is perhaps more popular but which is no gospel at all… of forsaking the perfect truths of the inerrant word of God… you get the idea… theological compromise is one of the dangers

But on the other side is another danger: of a cowardly clinging to church traditions because it is uncomfortable to change them… of lifting up certain patterns of worship— styles of music, Psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, whose musical style spoke to one generation powerfully but which is now dated and whose time has passed… of being too afraid of trouble in the church, too afraid of upsetting people, too afraid to move when the Holy Spirit says to move, instead of a cowardly clinging to old patterns because they are comfortable and the “way we’ve always done it”; many good, solid, Bible-believing churches have made this terrible error—they have stuck blindly to what they’ve always done in corporate worship, and have failed to notice that times and culture have changed around them; their worship is now dated, and only the people who have been in that church for decades still enjoy it; these churches continually get older and older… very few younger people join them; there aren’t many young couples; the babies the church celebrates being born are grandchildren, born in other churches and in other states… after a while, the numbers of Sunday morning attenders gets so small it becomes questionable whether they should even continue. Now, many factors conspire to bring this about—the primary one is not usually clinging to old worship styles and traditions, but a cowardly and faithless retreat from evangelism and missions… it is all part of the same mindset, though; at some point, the church got comfortable and sought only to make it through this world with the least amount of trouble and greatest amount of comfort; this is a very sad and dangerous situation as well

NOT OUR CHURCH but it might be

So the elders of FBC, after much prayer and hours and hours of discussion, feel the time has come to make some significant changes to certain aspects of our corporate worship experience; our desire is to communicate as clearly as possible what these changes will entail and what they won’t. We do not want the church to be surprised or blindsided by what the elders want to do with our worship services; tonight, the elders will present the details in a unified way. They will be available for questions, and will seek to be clear about the direction we feel God leading us to go.

My job this morning is to lay the groundwork for tonight’s presentation by rooting in Scripture the ideas of that which is timeless (permanent) in corporate worship, and those forms which must be constantly evolving and are therefore temporary. I want to comfort those who fear we may be straying too far one way, doctrinally compromising… this we will NEVER do, by the power of the Holy Spirit we make this pledge to you. What must never change we will never change! However, I also want to challenge those who may be tempted to get too comfortable in our present forms of worship and urge you to look outside of yourselves to others, to even a generation yet unborn… and to embrace what may be for you some unsettling changes so that FBC will still have a strong connection to new generations, to new people, to new lifeblood for as long as the Lord chooses to tarry and wait for His return. We do not want FBC to become obsolete because we failed to keep in step with the Spirit when it was time to move out.

The Book of Hebrews: The Perfect Book to address this issue

No generation of Christians has ever had to embrace so much significant change in its worship!! Everything was changing!! The temple was obsolete… the Aaronic priesthood was obsolete… the animal sacrifices were obsolete… the ceremonial laws of Moses were obsolete… the distinctions between Jews and Gentiles were obsolete… the dietary restrictions were obsolete! And what is more, the author to Hebrews makes it plain that they MUST move ahead with God into the Promised Land of a whole new style of worship and religion!! If they shrink back through unbelief, and seek to return to the comfortable forms of their ancestors… if they shrink back from a courageous advance into New Covenant worship based on the blood of Jesus Christ and the invisible ministry of the Holy Spirit among them… if through unbelief they shrink back from entering that spiritual Promised Land, they will be no better than the generation of Jews who refused in the time of Moses to enter the physical Promised Land, and they will be destroyed:

Hebrews 10:38-39 But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.” 39 ¶ But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.

The First Century Jews were being commanded by the Living God to turn their backs on almost all the familiar patterns of worship that they had inherited from their fathers and grandfathers… and which GOD HIMSELF had originally instituted through Moses. This was the most significant change in public worship in history

Christ had clearly prepared Israel for this immense change in worship. In Matthew 9:17, He said

Matthew 9:17 Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.

In other words, the New Wine of the New Covenant could not fit into the old wineskins of Old Covenant Judaism. The New Covenant was a vibrant, living thing that was going to expand… like new wine still fermenting and giving off gasses… if the old, stiff, inflexible wineskins tried to contain it, it would rupture… God through the Spirit was making immense changes, and the people of God had to FLEX too, they had to move too… they had to YIELD to what the Spirit was doing

So it is today; forms of public worship have been changing for centuries; people have used many different types of music, many different cultural expressions to do the same kinds of things in worship: worshiping Christ by the power of the Spirit in submission to the New Testament, apostolic regulations

Any church that becomes static, inflexible, unyielded will have rupturing problems No book speaks so eloquently to this issue as does Hebrews!

I.   Central Call: Do Not Refuse the Lord Who Speaks

Vs. 25 See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven?

A.  Hebrews 12: Contrasting Mount Sinai vs. Mount Zion

1.  Mount Sinai represents the Old Covenant and its earthly worship

2.  Mount Zion represents heaven to which the New Covenant alone can bring us

B.  Mount Zion (heaven) is infinitely superior to Mount Sinai (earth)

Hebrews 12:18-24 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19 to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20 because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.” 21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.” 22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

C.  Mount Sinai shook with the Voice of God… bringing terror

1.  The setting itself was dreadful… terror-producing

2.  Mountain burning with fire… darkness… gloom

3.  Loud startling noises: a trumpet blast and the actual voice of Almighty God

4.  The Law: “If anyone touches this mountain they must be stoned”

5.  Even MOSES was trembling with fear

D.  Mount Zion is infinitely superior

1.  The “heavenly Jerusalem”

2.  The “city of the living God”

3.  Thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly

4.  The church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven

5.  The place where God dwells, He who is the judge of all men

6.  The spirits of righteous men made perfect

7.  JESUS: the mediator of a new covenant and to His perfect blood

E.  You Have Come to Mount Zion… BY FAITH

1.  The author says “You have come to Mount Zion”

2.  By faith in Christ, you are already come there

3.  But this “coming” is only by faith… we cannot see any of these things

4.  The New Covenant worship is essentially and primarily by faith

5.  God has not ordained a bunch of physical rituals and artifacts and sanctuaries and pilgrimages… that was all Old Covenant worship

6.  New Covenant worship must be by faith alone

F.  The Same God speaks today in the New Covenant

1.  The author speaks yet another word of warning to these first century Jewish Christians

2.  The same God whose voice shook the earth is speaking quietly today in the gospel… see to it that you do NOT REFUSE Him who speaks

3.  Those who tried to escape God back then were completely unable to do so… God judged them immediately for their sins

4.  How much less can we escape now if we refuse the gospel of Jesus Christ

5.  FOR that same voice that at one time shook just one mountain on earth will someday shake the entire universe in wrath and judgment…

6.  There is only ONE safe refuge: Jesus Christ

II.   What Can Be Shaken: Temporary Things

Hebrews 12:26-27 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken– that is, created things– so that what cannot be shaken may remain.

A.  The “Shaking” of the Earth Shows its Temporary Nature

B.  The Future “Shaking” Will Be Universal

1.  Not only one mountain on earth but every mountain on earth and every portion of the earth

2.  And not only the earth but also the heavens

3.  Revelation 6 plainly describes this terrifying judgment that is coming on all creation

Revelation 6:12-14 I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, 13 and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. 14 The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

C.  Everything Physical is Temporary

1.  Hebrews 1 already made this plain

Hebrews 1:10-12 He also says, “In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. 11 They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. 12 You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed. But you remain the same, and your years will never end.”

2.  Many other verses testify to this as well

2 Corinthians 4:18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.

D.  Sunday Morning Experience

1.  414 Cleveland Street: This present structure is temporary

a.  Built in 1927 in a “Neo-Classical style”… with pillars out front and no steeple, it looks like a Greek Temple

b.  Used to have balconies extending all the way to this wall… removed with great debate and some rancor… people have a very hard time letting go of traditions and architecture is part of it

c.  Renovated in 1995 under “Forward in Faith” for about 1.8 million dollars; it is comfortable and spacious, still eminently usable for worship

d.  BUT it is temporary… what is seen may be shaken, and this building is no exception

e.  Frankly, the renovations going on right now in this hallway out here show how temporary everything here is

2.  Pipe organ is gone; replaced in 1990’s by a state of the art electronic pipe organ with no pipes… lots of discussion went into that decision at that time; electronic organ is temporary

3.  Piano here—beautiful new Steinway—best piano in the world; it’s temporary too

4.  Carpet, pews, folding chairs for the orchestra; choir robes, etc. lots of changes in the 13 years I’ve been here; everything you see with your eyes is temporary; at one point it didn’t exist at all; someone built it, and thought it would be useful for Sunday morning worship… but everything here is temporary

5.  Every song we sing is temporary as well… the truths in the songs are not, but in heaven we will be singing a NEW SONG which every nation on earth will have to learn

III.   What Cannot Be Shaken: Eternal Things

Hebrews 12:27-28 The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken– that is, created things– so that what cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful

A.  “What Cannot Be Shaken”

1.  The “Heavenly Zion” already described above

2.  God the Creator, King, Judge

3.  Jesus the Savior and His eternal blood

4.  The Redeemed: the “firstborn” ransomed from every tribe and language and nation

5.  The Heavenly Zion…. The New Jerusalem

B.  The Scripture Reveals Other Things That Cannot Be Shaken

1.  God’s word never changes… it is eternal

2.  God’s character never changes

3.  The gospel never changes

4.  The dangers of the world, the flesh and the devil never change

5.  God’s call on our lives for 1) internal journey (personal holiness) and 2) external journey (evangelism and missions) never changes

6.  These timeless pillars of corporate worship will never be changed from our corporate worship

C.  So Also Certain Practical Aspects of Worship Must Not Change

1.  We must have clear descriptions of God… His attributes, His achievements… as the basis for our worship

2.  Every song we sing and every prayer we pray and every word we speak from the pulpit must conform to the apostolic doctrine of Scripture… it must pass the truth test

3.  We are to give our attention to prayer and the public reading of Scripture

4.  We are to sing Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs by the power of the Holy Spirit

5.  We are to have the word of God faithfully preached week by week

6.  We are to assemble ourselves together weekly to do these things

7.  We are to give ourselves faithfully to the administration of the ordinances— baptism and the Lord’s Supper

8.  We are to do everything we can to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace

9.  We are to collect money-tithes and offerings—for the ongoing work of the church and the spread of the gospel worldwide

IV.   Let Us Worship God Acceptably

Hebrews 12:28-29 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.”

A.  Because We Are Receiving an Unshakable Kingdom

1.  The first ground for our worship: the incredible GRACE of GOD to us in Christ

2.  We are receiving a Kingdom…

a.  To “receive a Kingdom” means to be counted an heir

b.  It means to receive a vast inheritance of incalculable wealth

c.  It means that we are joint-heirs with Christ and will reign with Him on His throne forever and ever

d.  A Kingdom is centered on the power of a King, and our King is Jesus the Invincible One

3.  A “Kingdom that cannot be shaken”

a.  No power in heaven or on earth or under the earth can stop the Kingdom of Christ

b.  It is an UNSHAKEABLE KINGDOM… nothing can make it tremble or shiver or rumble… Satan has no power against Christ’s Kingdom; neither do all of the wicked men that have allied themselves against it

c.  Psalm 2 describes this united effort to shake Christ’s Kingdom and the heavenly response:

Psalm 2:1-4 Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One. 3 “Let us break their chains,” they say, “and throw off their fetters.” 4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.

d.  Nothing can stop the coming of this unshakeable Kingdom

e.  And when we are finally saved, in the New Jerusalem, we will understand at last the awesome sovereign power of King Jesus and we will celebrate it forever and ever

4.  “We ARE RECEIVING” this Kingdom…

a.  We are in the PROCESS of receiving our inheritance

b.  It is going on now, day by day, with our growing sanctification

c.  It is going on now, day by day, with our growing fruitfulness in evangelism and missions

5.  This is the BASIS of our present worship… this gift of a Kingdom

6.  That will NEVER CHANGE… no matter what outward trappings our worship may take… no matter what instruments we use or style of music or visual aspects or any temporary thing

7.  The CENTERPIECE of our worship week by week will be the Kingdom of Jesus Christ… victorious over sin and death forever

B.  Let Us Be Thankful

1.  Gratitude is at the root of our corporate worship

2.  God deserves to be THANKED for giving us a Kingdom that cannot be shaken!!

3.  Jesus deserves to be THANKED for paying for our inheritance with His precious blood, shed on the cross; and for rising from the dead to give us an UNSHAKABLE HOPE

4.  The Spirit deserves to be THANKED for taking the finished work of God the Father in election and the finished work of God the Son in redemption and applying it to us directly so that we are included in this vast salvation

5.  Thankfulness should characterize our corporate worship… it should be a JOYOUS CELEBRATION… it should be radiating with joy and thanks and energy and love

C.  Let Us Worship God

1.  The word literally is “serve”… “Let us serve God”

2.  BUT the context is one of the organized religious actions centered around the Tabernacle/Temple in the Old Covenant

3.  Our whole lives should be actively given in service to the Triune God

4.  In Hebrews 13, he will speak of this kind of active service in acts that are well- pleasing to God

Hebrews 13:15-16 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise– the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

5.  But here, we focus on corporate worship

6.  We should enter this building every Sunday morning ready to give a sacrifice of praise and worship to God

7.  One of the biggest desires the elders have is to craft and lead a worship service that vigorously ENGAGES the hearts and minds of the people; you should come here ready to be summoned out of whatever self-focused discouragement or pre-occupation with worldly successes or failures and be ready to SERVE GOD in worship

D.  Acceptably

1.  There is ACCEPTABLE worship and UNACCEPTABLE worship

2.  The Greek word means “well-pleasing”… we are to worship God in a way that is well-pleasing to Him

3.  In the Old Testament, God was very plain about details of Jewish worship; they were not to worship as the pagans did under every tree and on every high place in whatever way they saw fit; God commanded them quite closely concerning acceptable worship

4.  Now, in the New Testament, we are to worship God in spirit and in truth

5.  We are to glorify Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit

6.  We are to be holy, to cherish God’s word, to be empowered by the Spirit

7.  We are to love one another, and serve one another sacrificially

8.  When we come together for worship, we are to follow the clear teachings of the apostles as laid out in the New Testament

9.  This is acceptable worship

E.  With Reverence and Awe

1.  These words show the fear and reverence that is due to Almighty God

2.  Jesus had this kind of pious awe for His Father in Hebrews 5

Hebrews 5:7 During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.

3.  Awe should characterize our worship… a sense of the infinite majesty of Almighty God; every godly person in the Scripture that had an encounter with the living God was overwhelmed with the holiness, the majesty, the grandeur, the sheer immensity and infinity of God

4.  Forever, our corporate worship MUST BE CHARACTERIZED by this same kind of holy fear and awe of the Triune God

5.  Sadly, too much contemporary worship is characterized by a lightness and frivolity and irreverence and disrespect for God in the name of setting everyone at ease and making everyone happy

6.  There is a way to combine the JOYFULL THANKFULNESS we discussed a moment ago with the REVERENCE and AWE of this verse; we have to find a way to do that every single time we come together in worship

7.  That is TIMELESS

F.  For Our God is a Consuming Fire

1.  The fear of the Lord comes from the holiness of God… a sense that God is a CONSUMING FIRE…

2.  This phrase comes from Deuteronomy 4 where Moses commanded the Israelites not to make any idols

Deuteronomy 4:23-24 Be careful not to forget the covenant of the LORD your God that he made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the LORD your God has forbidden. 24 For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

3.  Isaiah picks up on this as well:

Isaiah 33:14 The sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling grips the godless: “Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?”

4.  So God never changes! We should tremble JOYFULLY in His holy presence

5.  Our corporate worship must be characterized by these seemingly opposite experiences: bathed in the infinite love of God for us in Christ… He is our “Abba, Father” who loves us dearly and tenderly; AND “Our God is a consuming fire” who can in no way tolerate wickedness

V.   Applications

A.  Be Ready for Change

1.  It may be unsettling, but we cannot stay comfortably locked in a musical/cultural pattern of worship and keep in step with the Spirit

2.  Understand that no aspect of our physical lives here on earth is permanent

3.  Also trust what God will do through the elders of this church: not a single thing will be changed that is timeless and part of God’s unchanging will for every culture and every era of human history

B.  Ask God to Open Your Heart

1.  God loves more worship styles than you do!!

2.  In every tribe, language, people, nation… people coming to faith in Christ immediately express thankfulness and reverence/awe to Almighty God in ways very different than you might

3.  Across twenty centuries of church history, worship styles have changed dramatically

a.  In the era of the monks, Gregorian chants wafted ethereally up toward heaven; at some point that pattern of worship became obsolete

b.  Isaac Watts was a trailblazer in taking the Psalms and versifying them for hymns; some people thought what he was doing was blasphemous; but for others it became a mainstay of worship

c.  In the early 18th century in New England, in Jonathan Edwards’s childhood, there were no standardized melodies; each person sang whatever tune they liked best; the result was a kind of cacophony that Isaac Watts and others helped solve

d.  Martin Luther loved music and was a trailblazer in church hymnwriting; many have linked Luther and Johann Sebastian Bach who came centuries later saying that Bach would never have been possible in Lutheran Germany if Luther hadn’t been such a lover of musical expressions of worship

e.  The early Methodist church was blessed by the hymnwriting prowess of Charles Wesley, who broke away from the strict Psalm-only approach to write spiritual songs that are now classics

f.  The revivalist movements of the 19th and 20th centuries have filled Baptist hymnals with many songs that are cherished classics for some; but whose tunes and lyrics come across as dated and perhaps obsolete to others

g.  I would venture to say that there is no congregation in America that worships in a style that would have been pleasing to 4th century Christians, or vice-versa

h.  These forms have been changing constantly

i.  To hold on to any of them as though they were as sacred as the Scriptures on which they are based is harmful to the ongoing mission of the church

4.  Learn to think of others when it comes to corporate worship

a.  At any moment a song we may be singing may be your favorite and someone else’s least favorite

b.  The next song, it may be exactly reversed! Learn to look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others

C.  Pray for the Elders

1.  God has entrusted the navigation of this issue to the elders of the church

2.  Pray that God will guide us as we seek to glorify Him and make wise decisions

D.  Come Tonight to Find Out More Details