Tag: Worship

Ark and Altar (Exodus 27)

Some parts of the Bible are like nuts, and often, we’re too lazy to crack them. We easily bore with a passage like this. It is as though we shove the shell of in our mouth expecting candy and then quickly spit it out. Our palates are juvenile and our minds lazy. Comparatively, even among similar passages of Scripture, we find this one lackluster. After the description of the tabernacle, we find that of the courtyard plain, dull, and drab. What we bore with, the Israelites sang of.

“When iniquities prevail against me, you atone for our transgressions. Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple (Psalm 65:3–4)!”

“How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! Selah …For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness(Psalm 84:1–4, 10).”

“Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth! Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations (Psalm 100).”

Come to texts like this prayerfully. Come to texts like this willing to work prayerfully. Come to texts like this asking God to make you sing.

Cracking this nut isn’t a matter of finding some hidden meaning in the fine details, but rejoicing in the clear revelation found in the big emphases. The altar is the biggest piece of furniture in the court, don’t miss it. It’s the biggest piece of furniture associated with the tabernacle, and for good reason, it was the most utilized.

As the ark is central to the tent, the altar is central to the court. Sometimes a person might have a piece of furniture or an appliance so large they joke that they build their house around them. Sometime it’s no joke. The tent and the court are designed around the ark and the altar respectively. Ark and altar are not just the prominent pieces of the tabernacle, they are the prominent pieces of the universe.

The only way to the ark is through the altar. The only way into God’s blessed covenant presence is through the altar of Christ cursed for our sins. The only way to the throne of grace is by the judgment of the cross. That’ll make you sing.

Don’t Use Pencil, but Indelible Ink (Exodus 23:10–19)

God’s calendar certainly seems to intrude on their time doesn’t it? There’s the rub. “Their time” is a myth. Time is one of God’s biggest blessings, for any time that we’re given means that we’re not suffering the eternal hell we deserve. Time is grace. Time is His. By these Sabbaths and feasts, God isn’t imposing on their time, He is giving them time—sacred time.

Time, as given to all humanity, is a common grace, a grace that saints and sinners alike share. These Sabbaths and feasts were grace saturated time. They were times of special grace. When Israel followed God’s calendar, the poor were fed, the livestock flourished, the land was fruitful, all enjoyed rest, and celebration was mandatory. When God puts you on His calendar, you don’t want to miss it.

God doesn’t intrude on our time, we’ve intruded on His. Grace resets our calendars around God. For those who have eyes of faith, these celebrations were a command to rejoice and rest. By these feasts God was inviting them to taste the future when all time would be all holy; a day when sins’ curse would no longer blight the harvest and death would not eat at time. The church now assembles on the Lord’s day to feast over the Word and Sacraments as a foretaste of that same future. For those with eyes of faith, there is resting and rejoicing. If you feel God intrudes on your time, beware your soul. If God isn’t lord of your time, He isn’t your Lord and you know neither real rest or joy.

Gaudy Ungodly Worship (Exodus 20:22–26)

Who you worship determines how you worship. God spoke, therefore, they shall not make an idol of silver (Exodus 20:22, 23). Capiche? Deuteronomy teases out the logic a bit more.

“Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since you saw no form on the day that the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth (Deuteronomy 4:15–18 ESV).”

Because they saw no form, but only heard a voice, they are not to make an image. Our God is a talking God, therefore our worship is a listening worship. The worship of God’s people is to be centered in God’s word. Who you worship determines how you worship.

Allah is a monad. Our God is triune. Allah cannot be love. He can be power, but he cannot, in his essence, be love. This impacts how Muslims worship. When you worship Molech, you sacrifice babies. When you believe in evolution, you abort them. How is an outworking of who. If the how is ugly, the who is ugly. When the Who is beautiful, the how will be beautiful.

There is an elegant simplicity to Christian Worship. We gather to preach the word, read the word, hear the word, sing the word, pray the word, and see the word (in the sacraments). When the visual begins to dominate our worship, idols of silver and gold are being crafted. When man’s production dominates and draws, when we want less holiness and more Hollywood, then like Ahaz we’ve brought a Damascus altar into a Jerusalem Temple. We didn’t choose the altar simply because of its practical superiority; it was aesthetically appealing because of our idolatry. Desiring to be like the cool Canaanites we loose what makes us distinctly Christian. Man’s fog and lights replace the revelation of the God of flashes and smoke. We work our altars of stone, chiseling the names and images of our gods on them—ourselves. Our work, not the Word of His work receives the limelight.

How you worship reveals who it is you’re really worshipping. Does your worship speak of a God who spoke from the fire (Deuteronomy 4:11–12)? Does it tell of a God whose word is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16)? Does it demonstrate that you really believe faith comes by hearing the word (Romans 10:17)? Does it testify to the God who causes dry bones to live by His word (Ezekiel 37:1–14)? Does indicate trust that the new birth comes by the word (1 Peter 1:23)? Does it display that the sanctifying of the church happens by His word (John 17:17)? Does it evidence the sufficiency of the word to make us complete (2 Timothy 3:16)?

God’s Name Is the Measure of Our Sin and His Salvation (Exodus 20:7)

How does one take the name of God in vain? Let’s reflect on one obvious answer: oaths. One profanes God’s holy name, not by taking oaths, but by taking them falsely. “You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD (Leviticus 19:2).” Many recall Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount and think we shouldn’t swear at all, but this loses the real significance of what He was saying and contradicts both the Old and New Testaments.

“You shall fear the LORD your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear (Deuteronomy 10:20).”

“For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you (Romans 1:9).”

“For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:8).”

So what was Jesus’ speaking of when He said:

Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil (Matthew 5:33–37).

If you couple this with what Jesus later says concerning oaths I think you’ll get a clearer picture:

Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it (Matthew 23:16–22).

Here are two related errors: 1. excessive oath taking and 2. thinking only some oaths are binding. Whatever other factors there are, this is clear, they aren’t taking oaths seriously. God commanded that when they swore, they were to swear in His name (Deuteronomy 10:20), and therefore, when they swear, it  must be with the utmost seriousness and reverence.

Further, when a child of God swears by anything, He swears by God’s name, for everything is God’s, all our life is lived Coram Deo (before God’s face), and His name is ever upon us. This means that we can profane the name of YHWH not just with oath words, but with all words and all actions. His name is on us. We bear His name as a wife bears her husband’s. God in covenant love has set His name upon us. How we live reflects on His name (Deuteronomy 28:9–10). God’s children never put down God’s name, even when they put it down.

We are guilty and God doesn’t let this sin fly. Paradoxically, and gloriously, our only hope for blaspheming God’s name, is God glorifying His name. God chose to magnify the glory of His name, by exalting the name of Jesus above all other names, in His redeeming sinners who have blasphemed His name, through Jesus’ perfectly revering God’s name for them, and suffering for their every taking of God’s name in vain.

All praise be to His holy name.

Baal Out (Exodus 20:4–6)

The second commandment isn’t redundant. It does repeat the first command, but whereas the first command tells us not to worship false gods, the second expounds saying nor are we to worship God falsely. How you worship cannot be separated from who you worship. Methodology isn’t a piston that fires independently of theology. Methodology is theological. God speaks to His people revealing Who He is, and then, flowing from that, He informs them how He is to be worshipped.

They are not to make an idol and worship it as God, for idols tell lies. Idols are measurable, our God is infinite. Idols are created, our God is Creator. Idols can be controlled, our God is sovereign. Idols need, our God overflows. Idols were visible, our God is invisible.

And yet, the second member of the Godhead became flesh, the image of God. But how is He represented to us today? By the Word of God. Worshipping God in Spirit and in truth means that our worship is focused on Christ. Our worship being centered on Christ means the preeminence of the Word in Christian worship. Who? Christ. How? The Word. The church gathers simply to pray the Word, sing the Word, hear the Word, see the Word (in the sacraments), and preach the Word.

Our worship is never pure, but where methodology is gloried in and theology sidelined, where the visual receives applause and the audio of the preached Word is only tolerated, be certain that idolatry is underfoot.

God Saves, We Sing (Exodus 15:1-21)

Then Moses and the people of Israel sang…

I will sing to the LORD, for…

—Exodus 15:1

God saves, Israel sings, this is the story of salvation.

God saves, we sing, this is the Christian faith. Certainly there are some vital qualifying adjectives, but nonetheless, this is the essence of our faith. The Christian faith is not we sing, then God saves. We see this in other religions. God is not looking down from heaven on our show responding, “Great performance! Now here’s some salvation. Keep up the good work.” In false religions, and false Christianity, worship isn’t a response, but an attempt to elicit one. Mantra and chants are a performance hoping to get a hand from God. True worship is a response because God has given a hand. Not a helping hand, but a nail scared hand that saved us when we were dead, in bondage, and without strength.

The LORD is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him,
my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

—Exodus 15:2

If Jesus isn’t your song, you don’t know His salvation. The saved, the rescued, the pardoned, the forgiven, the redeemed, the ransomed, the delivered, the justified, and the reconciled SING!

Some folks, of the highly educated sort, think this song is odd in its placement. This is ridiculous on a number of levels. Where else would you put it? Would you like Moses to insert it following the instructions for the golden lampstand? Further, such persons reveal they not only  know little of salvation, they know little of life.

“It’s not natural for this song to be here.”

“Have you ever eaten an exquisite steak?”

“I don’t follow.”

When you experience something good you want to praise it. Lewis observed, “I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation.” Praise is a response to the praiseworthy. Songs of praise are a response to the exceptionally praiseworthy. Israel had reason to sing. She had to sing. We have reason all the more. The “then,” “for,” and “because” of our singing have been more fully revealed. Because of the incarnation, the perfection, the death, the resurrection, the ascension, the session, and the promised return of Christ, let us sing. Because of the redemption, ransom, salvation, propitiation, regeneration, reconciliation, justification, adoption, sanctification, and glorification we have in Christ, let us sing.

The history of salvation is sometimes described as a drama—the drama of redemption. However, this drama is actually a musical. It is impossible even to conceive of Biblical Christianity without songs of praise. —Phil Ryken

The Penning Pastor: Pleasure and Duty

From “We Were Once as You Are”

Our pleasure and our duty,
   Though opposite before;
Since we have seen his beauty,
   Are joined to part no more:
It is our highest pleasure,
   No less than duty’s call;
To love him beyond measure,
   And serve him with our all.

—John Newton, Works

The Penning Pastor: We Praise because We See

From “The Name of Jesus”

Weak is the effort of my heart,
And cold my warmest thought;
But when I see thee as thou art,
I’ll praise thee as I ought.

—John Newton, Works

With Every Turn of a Page (Exodus 3:1–12)

Perhaps the most masterful thing C.S. Lewis does in his Narnia series is to create a longing in you for Aslan the lion. Aslan is the central figure in the books, yet, notice how sparse his appearances are. You turn each page hoping it to be the one in which he comes into the story, and yet, you know that he is on every page. Every story is his story.

And so it is with our Lord. Mistakingly we can think that theophanies were as thick as June-mosquitoes following heavy May-showers in Oklahoma. They were not. They were more rare than horny toads. The first chapters of Exodus give us a clearer picture. God gives the brave midwives families in chapter one, then He hears the cries of His people in chapter two, but these are things we only know because of the narrator. Israel was ignorant of these things as the events themselves unfolded. But, because of the subtle narration, because of the genealogy, because we’ve read the promises in Genesis, because we’ve recalled the covenant, we see that God has been on every page.

It was God who brought His people down to Egypt according to His word. There they were afflicted as He told Abraham. There God multiplied them and made them into a great nation as He promised Jacob. God’s covenant faithfulness hasn’t failed. Even so, longings have been stirred. Israel, by her bondage cried out for the manifest covenant love of her God. We, by the Spirit’s Lewis-surpassing craft, long for God to manifest Himself. We’ve seen glimpses, and they are glorious, but we hunger for more. So we come to chapter three. We turn the page. There He is! The Holy and Humble one, the great I AM come down to bring His people up. The transcendent God has come down in immanent covenant graciousness to redeem a people out of bondage to a land flowing with milk and honey. Our hearts leap, for this story isn’t limited to one book of the Bible. This is the story of the Bible. This is our story: the holy transcendent God come down in immanent covenant grace to save a people to Himself. May our expectation grow with every turn of a page.

The Penning Pastor: How Christians Compliment

In a letter to the Rev. Mr. O****.

I know not if my heart was ever more united to any person, in so short a space of time, than to you; and what engaged me so much was, the spirit of meekness and of love (that peculiar and inimitable mark of true Christianity) which I observed in you. I mean it not to your praise. May all the praise be to Him, from whom every good and perfect gift cometh, who alone maketh the best to differ from the worst. —John Newton, Works, Vol. 1