It's Amazing What Praising Will Do - 2 Chronicles 5:1-14

foreign well good morning it's good to see you and many of you i will be seeing here shortly as we gather for worship i look forward to that as always we're going to be continuing our study of second chronicles this morning we've been looking at the end of first chronicles and the beginning of second chronicles over the last several weeks as you know our unit is entitled uh no ordinary wisdom we're looking at the life of solomon we started off looking at david prepper preparing solomon for his duties and now we're seeing solomon completing those duties one note of course is the fact that in the chronicles solomon's wisdom is described more in terms of his ability to continue the work of his father david as king and in one specific sense that is in the building of this temple that is being developed that david originally wanted to build but god said it would be his son you know that solomon was known for wisdom and that the wisdom that we know about regarding his judicial wisdom so to speak is the detail for us in first kings so we won't be looking at that we are looking at a very specific understanding of solomon's wisdom here in his early life but i do think it's important to note uh what is going on with this text as it does show solomon and his desire early on to fulfill the work of his father and really recognize that the work of his father david was to glorify god and solomon wants to do that here as well well as we get ready to start you can see our lesson title was uh entitled uh it's amazing what praising will do we're going to be looking at second chronicles chapter 5 we'll be looking at all of that it's only 14 verses but as we do that i want to just kind of get us ready for this chapter 3 last week we looked at was the preparation for and the building process and description about that building process occurred chapter 4 is actually continuation of chapter 3 in which chapter 4 provides for us additional information about the furnishings that went into the temple but what we're going to see here beginning in chapter 5 is the completion of that process what you're going to see then in chapter 6 will be a description of solomon's speech in dedicating the temple as well as his prayer of dedication and then chapter 7 following that will be actually god's response to all that took place once the temple had been completed well if you have your bibles open turn those to first chronicles or excuse me second chronicles chapter five we're going to be looking at those uh the entire chapter as i mentioned a moment ago we're going to be looking at the let me find it looking at it we're going to be looking at all 14 verses is what i was doing with that but i want to give you an outline of the text real quickly as we're going to go through and see how this is divided up again step by step i'll say more about that as we go and get done with looking at the outline first of course we'll look at verse one in a moment construction ends chapter three verses one and two described the construction beginning and now we see the the kind of the bracket of that on the end the building is done but the furnishing in terms of what will make the final uh work complete will be what takes place in the next few verses chapter 5 verses 2 to 6 will in involve for us or will recount for us the presentation of the ark the tent which is the tent of meaning which is the tabernacle and the holy articles that would have been in the temple or excuse me in the tabernacle will be described and then ready for placement in the temple itself then verses 7 through 10 will detail for us the actual placement of the ark in the most holy place in the holy of holies and then there will be the worship of god and the glory of the lord descending in a cloud of smoke we'll look at that in verses 11 through 14. i'm going to be reading through the ni or excuse me through the esv as i always have throughout this unit but there are a couple of places in the end of chapter 5 with the esv that are very very stilted in language i'm going to read it because that's been my practice but many of you are reading other versions and it'll read a little bit more smoothly i will read the niv at that point as well just to kind of give a little clarification if you're not following along in that in that version it is just a little bit of a difficult reading there it's broken up into a lot of different parts and i think a few other translations are going to be good at making that a little bit easier to understand i had to read it a few times and as you know what we've been doing over the last year through our sunday school lessons is with each unit i've used a different translation just to kind of get a feel for that and give you uh an exposure to the different readings as well well let me first read the first verse and as we do we'll see what uh it says to us about what solomon has done in bringing this process to a completion second chronicles chapter 5 verse 1 reads this way thus all the work that solomon did for the house of the lord was finished and solomon brought it and brought in the things that david his father had dedicated and stored the silver the gold and all the vessels in the treasuries of the house of god well i mentioned last week that i i like to watch hdtv and a lot of the renovation shows or people going out and looking for new houses sometimes there is a you know a show where one person tries to renovate their home so that they'll stay in another one shows them other homes and then the competition is do they stay in the house or they move into another house but one of the things you find at the end of these different movie shows about flips also is they'll stage them in other words they'll bring things in to make it look good and appealing what we're seeing with solomon here is he's not bringing things in to make them look good and appealing he's doing these as evidence that he's fulfilling what his father david had started notice the things that were brought in we're told that the temple process the building of the temple is complete now it's time to start bringing the things in that make it finally ready for worship i read one source that suggested perhaps uh david might be disappointed in what solomon is doing with all the preparation that david had made all the provision that david had made with the silver and gold and other precious stones and metals that now solomon is simply putting them in the treasury and just kind of putting him in the temple i don't know that david would be disappointed we don't know the mind of david at that point i don't think that solomon with all the other attention to detail that he's given regarding fulfilling his father's wishes would then disappoint his father by just kind of placing them in there without any kind of concern i think solomon and what the chronicler is doing here by telling us what solomon did is indicating that this is a sign that solomon was fulfilling what his father david had planned and desired to do for the lord and so what we see here in this text is actually a sign of completion the things that david had planned are now being brought to fruition and completion and so i think that serves as a nice bracket for what we have here so i don't think that there's any sense in which david would be disappointed another author looked at the same text and indicated this might be a time that david might sit up proud knowing that finally something that he had in his heart to do for the lord but the lord had other plans he at least would know that solomon was faithful in fulfilling what he had originally desired to do but god told him it would be solomon and so we have a kind of a fulfillment here on solomon's part to show that david's work is complete and of course as we'll see it's just kind of stage one of many that will bring to conclusion the entire dedication process that will be detailed for us in chapter seven well another very important aspect of this completion process has to do with those things from israel's early history that represented the presence of god among the people and in previous lessons we've talked about the ark we've talked about the tent of meeting or the tabernacle just kind of his background to what was going on with the temple and what the temple intended to be and what the the temple was in what i should say what the temple was intended to be and what it was to represent you're seeing here a more permanent structure whereas what the israelites had from the time of moses on was simply a a place that could be built up temporarily and then broken down and moved and set up again and of course one thing that would be the constant is the arc well let's talk about that and then we'll give some other background as needed to do that so we're going to be looking at verses two through six here as i said it was entitled the presentation of the ark the tent and the holy articles then solomon assembled the elders of israel and all the heads of the tribes the leaders of the fathers houses excuse me the leaders of the father's houses and the people of israel in jerusalem to bring up the ark of the covenant of the lord out of the city of david which is in zion or which is zion and all the men of israel assembled before the king at the feast that is in the seventh month and all the elders of israel came and the levites took up the ark and they brought up the ark the tent of meeting and all the holy vessels that were in the tent the levitical priests brought them up and king solomon and all the congregation of israel who had assembled before him were before the ark sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered so what we see here are a number of things related to bringing this process to a completion first note that solomon gathers an assembly now the language that's used here is similar to the language that we've seen in other places in first chronicles and in second chronicles where there's a gathering of the leadership of israel we see now that the temple is completed similar note of that assembly is brought together as well so this is a big gathering there's obviously going to be a number of people associated with the leading of worship here in a moment but then you get the impression through the text that this is a major major event and rightfully so that not just these leadership are here but also many many many of the people of israel are there as well then there's a reference to the bringing up of the ark we're told that it's brought up from the city of david which is zion and i know i read it wrong earlier so i want to correct it zion was the alternate name for the city of david now recall that in second samuel chapter 6 and in first chronicles 15 that is a reference to when david actually brought the ark from the home of obed edom to the uh the place where he was staying in the city of david and it stayed there we also talked about the fact that the tabernacle was still in gibeon and that david would not go up to gibeon because he was afraid of what the angel of the lord would do so we have a separation there what david did when he finally brought the ark back down to jerusalem to his palace to the city of david is he built a different tent for it and so it stayed in a a temporary tent the city of david is just down the hill from the temple i mean you could walk it it's a steep walk i will grant you that but it is down the hill and i think it bears mentioning that because as i've walked up from the city of david into jerusalem i can only imagine that when the priests who were carrying the ark were holding on to the rods to carry the ark going up at a steep grade they had to be very very careful how they had to do that and then of course once you got to the the area of the city of jerusalem proper and then gone up to where the temple itself was that's another steep grade as well so i i think we need to appreciate what was involved in bringing up the ark to the to the temple finally and so it was just like i said just down the hill though it's not far it's a good little walk and it's a steep walk as well we're told that this took place in the seventh month now we're not told what month that is in terms of its name like last week when we knew uh of the two months names those old canaanite names the seventh month was originally called ethanim which is later referred to as the month of tishri this is the month that is about september october it is before the time of yom kippur and rosh hashanah it's the time of tabernacles which is kind of interesting that as they are finishing up this quote permanent temple it's during a time when they have been celebrating or would have been planning to celebrate what would be known as the feast of booths feast of shelters feast of tabernacles which was a rec time to remember their wandering in the wilderness during the 40 years after their escape from israel and then not being able to go into the promised land as yet because this is the seventh month and remember i mentioned last week that the completion of the temple was actually the eighth month what is likely going on here is that the temple itself was completed in the eighth month of one year but that what you have taking place in the uh process is completing the preparation for going into the temple and other things and then this is the seventh month of the next year and so you have an eleventh month process that will continue on beyond that as well and so what you have going on there is a little bit of a process not just let's finish and get in there there's there's stuff going on we've seen throughout our study that things take time and that's what's going on here well moving on then we have the finishing of the temple as we said the time of the feast of booths the the tent of meeting is brought to the temple and the things that go in the temple are brought in or that went into the tabernacle or brought in the temple as well then notice we're told that you have the various elders and the levites bringing the ark in and they bring it to the temple we'll read in a moment them actually placing it but what happens as they gather everything together is that what you have is what you have then is a a stop down where they actually have sacrifice and they are basically getting ready to worship god so that as they move forward they're going to as they get ready to move forward they're going to stop down and have a time of worship and that worship is going to involve what they have been taught to do by moses and that is to offer up sacrifices i think it's important to note the amount of sacrifice that does take place in our text we're told in verse 6 that as they gather around before the ark and offer sacrifices they offer sacrifices of sheep and of oxen but we're told that it was and there were so many they couldn't count them now that's a lot when you consider that at the end of first chronicles when david talks about the building of the temple dedicating solomon and the people of israel and the leadership to the task of doing that there's a worship service that takes place there and we're told of the thousands upon thousands of animals that were that were sacrificed and a specific number was given here we're told we couldn't even count them we don't know how many would be uh presented maybe they got caught up in the moment of the worship and never took time to count the number of sheep it could be maybe uh an example of their indicating that no amount of sacrifice would be sufficient to to fully worship god but they did they gave everything that they had well i want to speculate beyond that i just want you to get a sense now of what's taking place step by step they've brought the ark up they've offered sacrifices and now they're going to do that which will bring the temple basically to completion by putting the ark in the holy of holies and so we see in verses 7 through 10 the placement of the ark in the most holy place let's read that and move into that text then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the lord to its place in the inner sanctuary in the inner sanctuary of the house in the most holy place underneath the wings of the cherubim the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark so that the cherubim made a covering above the ark and its poles and the poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the holy place before the inner sanctuary but they could not be seen from outside and they were there they are there to this day there was nothing in the ark except the two tablets that moses put there at horeb where the lord made a covenant with the people of israel when they came out of egypt let's talk about that a little bit first the placement of the ark in the holy of holies if you'll give me an opportunity let me show you what the ark would have looked like now there are many many depictions of the ark but if you go back and look in the book of exodus where the ark is described in terms of its makeup you'll know that it's acacia wood it's overlaid in gold their cherubim placed on top the cherubim face from face each other from each end with their wings spreading over it to cover it there are rings on the sides and we're told that poles that would be used to carry it would be through rings that are on the side at the foot when you go online to look at various depictions of the ark you're going to see all kinds of things so i wanted to make sure i gave you one that looked like what i would have seen in my eyes the way it's described and that's going to help because if you look at the way most depictions of the ark are given they wouldn't be able to do what the chronicler tells us here went on with the poles so let me show you really quickly what the ark might have looked like as we go through and uh with our mind's eye try to figure out exactly what was going on with the ark and the the uh the temple remember last week i showed you a different depiction of the temple as it's described but i think this helps it's not perfect you know we don't have a picture no one took a picture of it no one you know made a drawing of it in the old testament but as you see it described you can see the the width and length you can see the cherubim over the the cover the they're on each end facing each other and then we're told that the rings with the poles were put to the side at the foot most other depictions will have the poles going on the front and the back of the ark and sometimes near the top of course not where the lid is it's important to note that this is likely the way it would have been placed especially i'm thinking about the rings as the rings then are going to be pointing frontwards and backwards from the perspective of the arc itself and that's important because as you go through the text it says that when the ark was placed in the most holy place the poles were so long that they basically were poking out of the veil at least they were visible maybe the uh the effects of the poles against the veil pushing outward were visible into the sanctuary the holy place it could be they haven't even shut the veil yet and so you can see them of course the author goes on to say they weren't so long though that you can see them from outside the temple so at least you get a perspective there had the poles been in the front then once they placed the arc then the poles would be going side to side they wouldn't be going outward i know i'm probably being a little nitpicky at that point but i do think it's important that we take seriously the description as given there so it makes some sense of what's being said we're told that it was placed in the holy of holies and that the cherubim of course the cherubim here that are being described are not the cherubim on the ark but that when they place the ark in the holy of holies then the cherubim that were built were basically with their wings spread serving as a cover over the ark now you'll recall last week i said that there were two different ways that the the description of the uh of the cherubim could be taken one is that they were carved into the back wall with then the depiction of the wing spread another way of reading that text was that they built actual statues and as you read it here and as you go back and look at a couple of other accounts i think it is more realistic that there were statues of some kind monuments if you will and these were tall we're told in 1st kings that these cherubims stood 10 cubits high and that each of them had a wingspan uh when spread out of ten cubits each where that one wagon was five cubits the other wing was five cubits one wing was touching a wall the other wing was touching the other wing of the other chair boom and then the the last wing was touching the wall this made it look like it was covering over and protecting the ark one of the things we said uh the role of the cherubim was that they would often serve in the mines or in the in the hebrew image as the guardian of the throne of god and so you have now with the chair with the cherubim overlooking the ark which would be also known as the mercy seat on the top a place which would represent kind of a throne for god even though we know god doesn't dwell in the temple it does represent god's place remember it's called the most holy place in your modern translations many other translations will refer to it as the most holy place and as a result we have here a completion if you will placing the ark in the temple remember that the ark was originally in the tabernacle and it's holy of holies and so now what you're seeing here is a transference from a temporary dwelling to what we can call a permanent dwelling of course it's not permanent for two reasons one god doesn't actually dwell there it's a representation of his dwelling but we also know that it's not permanent in the sense that it not only could have been destroyed but we know that it was destroyed on two different occasions this one is going to last for a while but we do know that it does represent what would mount for the people of israel as a permanent dwelling it's a representation of god's presence among the people one thing that's curious about the text is that it says from the perspective of the author that the the uh the polls at least are there to this day now that might be a reference to the fact that when the chronicler is writing this is after the exile looking back referring to what the temple used to look like and that the ark was there but the ark is no longer there what is there is the the poles okay we'll talk about that a little bit more when we get to the end of our chapter here because i do want to bring in a parallel passage as it relates to one of the sayings in the text but we do have to recognize there are no number of places in the old testament where the author will say something like such is the case until this day or those people are there in the land and until this day and of course it's always a reference to the time of the writer we're told that the contents of the ark are limited the esv says there was only the two tablets of moses which of course represent the tablets of the law or the ten commandments it's curious to note that the esv says only because that wasn't the only thing that was supposed to be in the ark we're told that not only were the tablets of the law placed in the ark when the ark was first built but later during their journey additional things were put in the ark we know about the mana there was a a pot of gold of mana that was placed in the ark and then there was also uh aaron's rod that budded remember when there was rebellion against the the people of uh well there was a rebellion among the people of israel against aaron and one way for god to vindicate aaron and demonstrate of his role as leader was that his rod butted and that was going to be in the ark as well as a constant reminder of what god did to provide remind the people of what god indicated as the leadership along with moses and of course the law that they were to follow that understanding of the contents is also repeated for us in hebrews chapter 9 verse 4 when the author there is comparing jesus to all things jewish and he's referring to how the contents of the ark would have been aaron's rod that butted the tablets of the law and the golden pot that was containing the manna and so you can look back at that by this time the only thing that is available are the stone tablets and so what we see here is even though the temple being completed was a good thing the ark being placed in the holy of holies was a good thing it was still incomplete it had the um the law but that was it what you find later is that even less is there and then we get to what the people do as a result once the ark is placed in the temple we see an act of worship and god's initial response and i say that because later on in chapter seven we'll see another fuller response let me read the esv here follow along bear with me i'll read it as smoothly as i can but i want to come back because there are a couple things that might look a little differently in other versions chapter 5 verses 11 to the end of the chapter which is verse 14. and when the priests came out of the holy place for all the priests who were present had consecrated themselves without regard to their divisions and all the levitical singers asaph heyman and jeduthen their sons and kinsmen arrayed in fine linen with symbols harps and liars stood east of the altar with 120 priests who were trumpeters and it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the lord and when the song was raised with the trumpets and symbols and other musical instruments in praise to the lord quote for he is good for his steadfast love endures forever the house the house of the lord was filled with a cloud so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud for the glory of the lord filled the house of god as we get ready to walk through that i'll talk about it piece by piece but let me read the niv at this point because it may be a little bit more smooth there's a the esv makes a big break trying to describe things related to the priests at that point and it kind of takes off on a trail but i think it'll come back and then i'll walk through a little bit more with you just to make sure we're understanding what's all taking place here the priests then withdrew from the holy place all the priests who were there had consecrated themselves regardless of their divisions all of the levites who were musicians asaph heyman and jennifer and their sons and relatives stood on the east side of the altar dressed in fine linen and playing symbols harps and liars they were accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets the trumpeters and musicians joined in unison to give praise and thanks to the lord accompanied by trumpets symbols and other instruments the singers raised their voices in praise to the lord and sang he is good his love endures forever then the temple of the lord was filled with the cloud and the priests who could not perform their service because of the cloud for the excuse me and then the priests could not perform their service before the cloud for the glory of the lord filled the temple of god i hope that was a little bit smoother there were a couple places where the esp kind of breaks down and goes off on a trail and comes back the the niv kind of breaks that up a little bit but i think you'll get a sense of what's going on here so let's talk about that a little bit first of all we know that the priests have completed their duty in the temple place in the ark they've come out levitical singers now a couple of ways this text is read even though the niv and the esv read similarly here we're told the names of levitical singers asaph heyman and jennifer and we're also told that it was their sons and other kinsmen that were involved some translations indicate that asaph heyman and jedephen represent older leaders but that the people that are leading in worship now are their descendants we do know of asaph from a previous text now he was there when david was praying and dedicating the preparation of the temple earlier in first chronicles and so it could be the same asaph the point that's being made though is that the priests have come out the the levites or the levitical singers are preparing to worship the point that is made in the text though is that there's not a concern for division right here it's just unison and that idea of unison is brought out a little bit later as well notice then they're also arrayed in fine linen they've brought the band they've got the symbols and the harps and the liars and they're on the east side of the altar now what that means is the temple would face east so if they walked out the door of the temple then there would be the large altar there would be the basin uh wash basin and so forth but then they were east of that so they were basically outside looking back toward the temple and then the music would play not only with the symbols the harps and the liars but they also had 120 priests who were also trumpeters and they were in unison in their praise and thanksgiving to god as the trumpets and the symbols played and all the other instruments praised are played in praise to the lord one of the things that they said was for he is good for his steadfast love endures forever i venture that guess that they had said more than that and the reason being is that that language is the exact same language that is used in first chronicles 16 when david led the people in a song of worship when the ark was placed in the tent that david made for it at zion in the city of david remember that the tabernacle had stayed in gibeon but when the ark was placed in the tent that david had made for it there was great worship and singing and what you have is a long song in first chronicles 16 verses 8 to 34. and then continuing in 35 to 36 there's a little break there but what you have there in verse 34 are the very same words that are mentioned here in the text we just read for he is good for his steadfast love endures forever now you would also note that that is a very i say very it is a common statement we've heard it in other places uh you'll see it again later in chapter 7 verse 3 when you have the completion of other parts of the celebration process we also see it in ezra chapter 3 and i want to come back to that one because i want to tie in what the author of the chronicles is doing here by re calling the past temple and then show what takes place in ezra when they are rebuilding the temple i'll come back to that in a moment but if you want you can write these texts down that also have the phrase for for he is good for his steadfast love endures forever there are five uh one two three four five other places where you're going to see this reference to the saying in different psalms so psalm 106 psalm 107 1 psalm 118 verse 1 and also verse 29 and then also psalm 136 1. let me repeat those 106 1 107 1 118 verse 1 and verse 29 and then also 136 1 and there are a number of other places of course where there are places where where it's talked about god's love enduring forever but having that full exact quote for he is good for his steadfast love endures forever is repeated there but i want us to go real quickly to ezra because as i said when we look at the book of chronicles we're talking about a document that was written for those that have come out of exile getting ready to move forward in their life past the exile but they look back on what god was doing prior to that and what good the people did prior to that so that they can focus now coming out of the exile on the good that they should do when i say good there obviously i mean good works but i mean mainly the worship of god in the way that god intended and primarily worship of god apart from all other gods so let me quickly turn over to the book of ezra chapter 3 and point something out again the chronicler is writing from the perspective of those back from the exile but looking back on what the what the temple originally was like with solomon putting it together and now they themselves are putting a new temple together so i just want to kind of pull that together if you will if you want to imagine they've already got the chronicler and the depiction of the temple there and now ezra is reporting for us what the people themselves did who rebuilt the temple when they came back from exile this is ezra chapter 3 verses 8 through 13. bear with me as i read through this but i want you to get a sense of two levels here having read about the old temple and now they're building the second temple now in the second year after their coming to the house of god at jerusalem in the second month zerubbabel the son of shaltiel and jeshua the son of josedak made a beginning together with the rest of the kinsmen the priests and the levites and all who had come to jerusalem from the captivity they appointed the levites from 20 years old and upward to supervise the work of the house of the lord and jeshua with his sons and his brothers and cadmiel and his sons the sons of judah together supervised the workmen in the house of god along with the sons of genidad and the levites their sons and brothers and when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the lord the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets and the levites the sons of asaph with symbols to praise the lord according to the directions of king david of israel and they sang responsibly praising and giving thanks to the lord and said for he is good for his steadfast love endures forever toward israel and all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the lord because the foundation of the house of the lord was laid but many of the priests and levites and heads of father's houses hold old men who had seen the first house wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of the house being laid though many shouted aloud for joy so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people's weeping for the people shouted with a great shout and the sound was heard far away notice then as they are laying the foundation for the second temple there is wailing and shouting and tears some tears of joy for the building but some among the older who had seen the former temple weeping sadly why probably because they knew the second temple wasn't going to have the same kind of splendor that the first one had certainly didn't have the same meaning because they may have been there they had seen the older temple but notice what happens as they are building the temple there they have the same reaction and this is just at the laying of the foundation of the temple they have in their minds the old temple some of them had seen the old temple some of them haven't but they've read about that old temple in the chronicles at least and possibly even in first kings and they're seeing the celebration that took place and now as they are building the new temple they are also celebrating let's take a quick aside to know how important it is to have a good memory and then use that memory to then move forward and trying to become who god has called us to be we can look at previous generations we can look at our generation and move to then have a legacy for other generations notice then that in our text there is the worship that takes place and then there is a stop down of worship because the house was filled with a cloud it said that the priests could not even stand to minister means they literally couldn't stand all right the glory of the lord was filling the house now when you hear that in chronicles yes there is the parallel in first kings but what you ought to also be thinking about is that god is doing for that generation that chronicles is reporting for another generation what took place originally when the tabernacle was built and in acts chapter 40 when it's completed the glory of god descends on that tabernacle as well so we see here they're experiencing the presence of god god allowed them to build a temple he basically accommodated himself in some way so that he could come down and be among them at least symbolically we know that more literally that took place when jesus came and he came down god in the flesh and tabernacled among us but we see that here as well and then notice the response there was silence they played music but the priests couldn't do anything they just stopped down wonder about what worship is like when god visits and i want to read something to you that the author of our lesson in the teacher's guide the teacher's guide that i have next to me not the student guide but in the teacher's guide michael evans jr he is a writer for this lesson his current position is director of public policy for the baptist general convention of texas christian life commission his father michael evans senior is a pastor in mansfield and is also now mayor of mansfield uh this is what he wrote there might be a thing or two we might quibble with a little bit i'm going to make a comment about that but i i was really taken aback in a positive way by what he said because i had the same kinds of reflections as i was reading this this text he says this have you ever experienced god in the midst of a church service like that before notice the worship is taking place we just read the glory comes down and silence no ministering no nothing if i can say it that way have you ever experienced god in the midst of a church service like that before has god ever done something in your life individually or in the life of your church collectively that caused you all to praise god so hard it was evident god was in the place moving have you ever been in a church service where praise and worship got so good and the spirit got so high that the preacher couldn't even preach and the program couldn't progress because everyone was in such deep worship and praise what a feeling that is he reflects that he's been that in that kind of experience before then he continues he says i believe heaven will be something like that but on a grander scale then we could even fathom it is a blessing from god or it is a blessing when god allows us to have a small glimpse of god's glory in moments such as these now i know where he's going and i want to reiterate the fact that where he is going ultimately is that praise and worship has led to knowing that god is truly present and that there is some sense of that what i would caution of course is not equating our emotional high with actually knowing as the presence of god there are a lot of factors in worship that can get us on an emotional high that may not actually be god it could just be the music it could be the euphoria of being in a group that is worshiping i do think though that there is a proper response to god's presence being known and so the feeling isn't proof of god's presence but god's presence can lead to that feeling we don't worship god for the feeling we worship him because he deserves it but certainly when we know that god visits us in the time of our praise that should be a joyous occasion for us we allow our emotions to be guided by truth but emotions do not reveal truth emotions aren't the truth but there certainly is a proper reaction to the truth and what proper reaction could there be more proper when god enters into the scene than as you have here silence no movement think about isaiah chapter 6 when isaiah is going into the temple and the presence of the lord falls and he can't do anything i think there's a place for us to recognize the awesome presence of god i wonder how often we actually sense that and know that and react to it i think we do i know that i've had those on occasion i wonder how often it happens corporately when we can just collectively know that god is there we do know even though jesus talks about god being in the presence of two or three gathered together he's doing that mainly in the sense of god affirming their action as they are confronting a sinner in the community that needs to be addressed but it's still there that god he engages in the presence and the praise of his people and i think about that text that comes along later that in you think of it in psalm 22 3 the king james says god inhabits the praise of his people that the king james says something like this you are holy enthroned on the praises of israel there's a sense in which we reach out to god in worship he blesses it by his presence we're thankful that by the spirit in us we are always in the presence of god there are times when we can sense it even more closely than that well let me think of a couple of closing things to say as i've prepared for us i think one thing that we can think about is just the care and planning that goes into worship now i think there's a time where we can spontaneously worship god but the serious event of completing the temple meant that there were plans put into place there were details that were followed i think even specifically with the ark moving from the city of david up into the temple david himself when he originally attempted to move the ark remember when it was being moved and uza touched it because it wasn't being carried in the right way when he touched it he died then david stopped recognized the right way to do it and after a time he eventually moved it the right way notice there was care in that i imagine there was meticulous care taken by these priests when they moved the ark into the temple i think i think care and planning and worship is necessary i think not only by the leaders but by ourselves what do we do preparing to go into a collective worship experience as we enter into what we recognize is the place where god dwells amongst the midst of his people i think also a sense of awe a sense of all of god's presence i'm not going to spend a lot of time at this point talking about those that may use maybe all too familiar terms for god calling him daddy or whatnot or um having lack of a sense of awe because sometimes people talk about the familiarity of our relationship with god and we're like buds almost and that's really not what the scripture teaches i think there's a familiarity there there's a relationship that we have there that is unique it should be the pattern that we have in a father-child relationship that is not often there among us but i do think what we need to recognize is when we come into the what we can call the presence of god collectively is there a sense of awe i like the emphasis that has been placed uh in our service in the last few weeks of making sure we're preparing for worship when we gather together there's a temptation to want to talk and visit and there's a place for that but then there's a sense in which we are getting ourselves ready for worship and i just want to say this i have observed others as they're getting ready for worship and we have a great many people in our church service and i think this is a good model for us sitting quietly contemplating meditating praying what is about to happen as we gather together do we get ready for worship and have a sense of awe but i do think also that as we get ready for worship we can say that we can look forward to the presence of god and that can be a joyous thing because we are now in that moment we're engaging god we are relating with god we are having interaction with god and intimacy with god that was intended from our creation but that was lost during the fall we just want to thank god for taking the initiation or taking the initiative to re respond by reconciling us to himself through jesus and the great sacrifice that was given for us to have that relationship i hope that as you've read through this text a little bit we'll continue to read through it and as we look at the prayer and dedication next week and the response of god in the coming weeks to this event that we can think about what it means to have a worship time and that it would not be just a corporate thing but that it would be an actual worship a lifestyle of worship if you will we don't have the temple anymore but we are the temple jesus is the temple who came and lived among us and now he through his holy spirit dwells in us paul tells us that we collectively and at times individually are also the temple of god what do we do to prepare ourselves for worship well let me have a quick word of prayer and then i will talk about what we're going to look at next week at least continue to talk about what we're going to talk about next week father we thank you for this day help us to truly have a sense of all when we come into an act of worship we know that we're giving ourselves the sacrifices of praises we don't give animal sacrifice anymore jesus in his death on the cross one sacrifice for all there's no more need for that but you have called us through the apostle paul and the writer to the hebrews one to offer our bodies as living sacrifices and two to give you sacrifices of praise i do pray that we would worship you in a way that you deserve and desire and we recognize just the awesomeness of being in your presence we're thankful that we can come boldly and confidently because of what christ has done we are in all because you are the creator of all the universe and yet even as the psalmist in psalm 8 says what is man that you are mindful of him the son of man that you consider him i can it's amazing to think that you consider us so we stand in all of you right now help us to not only worship you in a collective group this week but help us daily to worship you recognizing that you indwell us by your spirit we love you and praise you and give you this time and give you ourselves in jesus name amen well real quickly then we're going to be continuing our study of the book of 2nd chronicles we'll be looking at chapter 6 and we're going to split up our study of chapter 6 into two segments next week is the blessing of unfulfilled dreams it's the beginning of solomon's uh speech and prayer what you're going to see in that text is um or in the the comment about the the blessing of unfulfilled dreams is the fact that david originally had the dream he had the desire to build the temple but it was then solomon who was able to fulfill that we'll continue on with that moving forward as well this is a celebration that continues on and on after the temple has been built and i do hope that it spurs us on to think of the blessings we have to be able to come to a place of worship and honor god through our lips and through our acts and through our prayers and through our thoughts pray that you have a good week and pray that god will continue to work in you to become who you have called him to be that he will equip you day by day to be ready for the encounters you have with those who need a word from the lord and that you will continue to live out your life for him until i see you next time as always be well and be blessed

Channel: Gambrell Street Baptist Church

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Id: t3uEgyk3_bc

Length: 51min 6sec (3066 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 18 2021