Deuteronomy 12-13

Introduction

      Several weeks ago, at the conference, we were listening to the reports as we always do at conferences. It was the turn of MB Communications and Dave Balzer got up and said, "I am going to lead you in worship." I thought, "we are going to have a few songs now or a scripture reading." Instead, Dave told us a story of how God had taken a confrontation between Promise Keepers and Peter Warren and made it into an opportunity to speak about God on a secular radio station for three hours every Sunday evening. There was hardly anyone there who was not wiping their eyes as we saw what God was doing. It truly was a worship service.

      What is worship? What do you expect to happen at a worship service? Do you worship when you come to church? What does God want in our worship?

      Robert Webber says the following things about worship. Worship is "a meeting between God and His people." "God becomes present to His people, who respond with praise and thanksgiving." "The worshiper is brought into personal contact with the one who gives meaning and purpose to life; from this encounter the worshiper receives strength and courage to live with hope in a fallen world."

      In the wilderness wanderings, Israel had experienced the presence of God in the tent of meeting which was always with them as a group. They had experienced the power of God leading them by the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. But as they were now about to enter the promised land, conditions were going to change. They were going to be scattered all over the land and would not be close to the temple. They would experience all kinds of challenges because the people who lived there worshipped all kinds of gods. As Moses instructed them about how to live as God's people in the promised land, he also instructed them about worship. In Deuteronomy 12,13, Moses instructs the people about who to worship, where to worship and how to worship. We can learn about worship from the things Moses taught them.

I.                   Who To Worship

cartoon p.66 spring 86

Does the theology of our worship matter?

A.                 Not Like The Others

      The nations Israel was going to dispossess were nations that had all kinds of different worship practices. They had many gods that they worshipped. The symbols of their worship were all over the place on high hills, under groves of trees, in sacred stones and idols and poles. Moses knew that if these different gods and all the symbols of pagan worship remained in the promised land, they would be tempted to quit worshipping God. Therefore, in 12:1-3, Moses told them to get rid of all the trappings of pagan worship. In 12:4, He warned them "You must not worship the Lord your God in their way." Then again in 12:29-32, Moses told them not to inquire about the gods of these nations. He is very direct, "You must not worship the Lord your God in their way." In other words, theology matters in our worship.

B.                 Don't Let Anyone Deviate You

      Sometimes it is hard to keep your theological focus. Suppose someone came along who accuratly proclaimed amazing signs and wonders. The evidence of the signs would suggest that this person had powers from above and should be listened to. But if that prophet would then say, "let us worship other gods," would we follow them? Their power would invite a following, but their message would not be right. Moses warned Israel of just such a situation. They should not listen to them because the theological focus of our worship matters.

      Suppose a close friend or relative whom you got along with very well would come to you and say, "Let us worship other gods." This can be very difficult because you want to remain friends, but once again, the response must be, "no way!" In 13:6-11, Moses warned about this because the theological focus of worship matters.

      In 13:12-18, Moses presents the case that if a whole town is found to have gone astray, severe action must be taken because the theological focus of worship matters!

C.                 God Centered

      What is the theological focus of worship? As we read these various warnings, we learn that the central focus of worship must be God. In 13:4 Moses said to them, "It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him." Notice in this verse that this is clearly and powerfully presented. By putting "It is the Lord..." first in the sentence, Moses was saying that our focus in life, our worship must center on God. With the repetition of the word "him" or "his" with each element of worship, Moses again focusses our attention on the center of worship which is God.

      True worship cannot be worship of idols or worship with pagan practices. Worship is an encounter with God and the focus of worship must be on God.

D.                Application

      What was true for Israel must also be true for us. The center of our worship must be God himself.

      Today there are still temptations to mix worship  of God with worship of other religions. Idolatry and all kinds of worship symbols that are not focused on God are still out there. In the name of pluralism, there are churches that want to accept many ways to God and the validity of other forms of worship which are not worship of God alone. Although it is offensive to some people, God is the one and only and all worship must be focused on Him.

      The focus of worship is also sometimes deviated by the worship of nature. The spiritual experiences that people speak about related to experiences in nature are often much more worshipping nature than worshipping the creator. Even as Christians, we need to be careful that when we enjoy nature we are continuing to focus not on nature itself, but on the one who made it. The focus of worship must be on God.

      For some, the value of worship is the traditions it upholds. Tradition can be an important aspect in worship, but the focus must never be on tradition or ritual, but on God.

      For some, stirring up certain feelings can become the focal point of worship, but this too is an idol that disapoints. The focus of our worship must be on God.

      For some attending worship is a way of meeting with friends. The focus is the relationships that are built. Relationships are a great joy in our life, but they must not become our focus, Worship must be focused on God.

      In your bulletin, you will notice that the first part of the service order is called, "gathering." In this part of our worship service, we have made a deliberate attempt to help each of us realize that we have gathered as a people of God in the presence of God to have a meeting with God. We are trying to be intentional about the fact that worship must be focused on God. Have you come here today to meet God?

II.               Where to Worship

      But is here the only place where we can go to meet God? What is the proper place of worship?

      After the meeting with God at Mount Sinai, the place of worship for Israel was very clear. God had given them the pattern for the tent and it was in the midst of their encampment and they were to worship there. When they would go into the promised land, however, they would be scattered all over the place. Where would they worship God then?

      In Canaan, they would encounter a people who had sacred places on hills and mountains because they believed they were closer to God there. They had holy places in shady groves where as one writer puts it, "the shady gloom of which filled the soul with holy awe at the nearness of the Deity." In an attempt to insure that Israel would not succumb to the temptation to worship in these places and perhaps to worship other gods in these places, Israel was told to destroy all these places.

      If their worship was to be focused solely on the one true God, it would be necessary to have one central place of worship. Moses instructed them that they should worship at the place which God would designate. He said to them in 12:4,5, "You must not worship the LORD your God in their way. But you are to seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go;" He also said in 12:8-11a. " ".

      At first when they entered the land, the place of worship which God chose was where the tent of meeting was pitched. In I Samuel, we learn that it was at a place called Shiloh. Later, when David conquered Jerusalem and made it his city, the tent was moved there. When Solomon became king, he built a beautiful temple in Jerusalem and from that time on, the temple in Jerusalem became the place where Israel was to go and meet God.

      Is it still important to worship God in a particular place? What does the New Testament have to say about this? When Jesus met with the woman at the well, he said to her in John 4:21,23, ""Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem....Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks."

      The great difference that has taken place for us today is that God has now taken up his residence in those who belong to him by His Holy Spirit. Formerly the presence of God was in the temple in Jerusalem. Now the presence of God is in those who belong to Him because His Spirit indwells them. So the place of worship is no longer restricted to a geographical place. In obedience to the Word of God in Deuteronomy, we now worship God in the place he has designated and that place is His Holy Temple - the person who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. That means that we can worship God anywhere and anytime.

      At the same time, the Spirit also is present with all the people of God as they gather. Jesus said in Matthew 18:20, "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." We also read in Hebrews 10:25, "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching." So according to the Bible, the place of worship is also in the gathered community.

      Sometimes we are tempted to think that worship is what happens on Sunday morning when we sing in church. What we have just learned about the place of worship tells us that worship is much broader than that. Worship is what happens when we encounter God in any and every circumstance of life and give glory to Him.

      When some people experience that worship happens best when they are alone in the forest or by a lake or watching a good television program, they may be tempted to think that they should just worhsip in that way. This too is not what God intends for our place of worship. There must be a place in our life when we gather to worship as God's people and together meet Him as His people.

      One of the aspects of having a central place of worship was that it made Israel take the time to go to worship. This is why a discussion of the place of worship is important. Worship happens when we take time to go to worship whether it is in the course of our day which we must do or as we gather to worship in church, which we must also do.

III.            How To Worship

      But how should we worship? There are so many styles of worship.

cartoon, p. 83 spring 94

      Spontaneity is one style of worship, but if we went to another church we would experience solemn liturgy, in another worship there would be exuberance and loud music, in another intellectually stimulating material and in another we would experience a quality performance. There is nothing wrong with all these styles of worship, but do all these different styles of worship really catch the essence of how God wants us to worship?

      We read earlier, in Deuteronomy 12:8, that when Israel entered the promised land, they were not to worship, "everyone as he sees fit." Worship must not be determined by men, but by God. We must worship him in the way He appoints. What does the Bible have to say about how we worship? This morning, we will look at several verses from this section on Moses' instructions on worship to the people of Israel.

A.                 Rejoicing

      From Deuteronomy 12:7 we learn that worship must include rejoicing at the works of God. There we read, "There, in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the LORD your God has blessed you." Two thoughts strike me about this verse. One is that worship must be characterized by joy in the presence of the Lord. Therefore, if our worship is all solemn, we have missed something that God wants in our worship. Furthermore, the joy is in response to what God has done. This is why the worship experience we had when David Balzer told us about what had happened in bringing GodTalk about, was so powerful. It was an occasion of rejoicing as we saw what God had done. Are we aware of what God is doing? Are we recognizing His hand in our lives? Are we praising Him for it? Then we will worship!

B.                 Fearing

      In 13:4, we earlier noted that the center and focus of worship is God, but it also tells us something about how we ought to express worship.

      There we learn that fear of God is at the heart of worship. We will worship when we recognize that God is a holy God. Fear of God is the terror of realizing that God is absolutely holy can have nothing unholy in His presence and that we who are sinful people are unworthy to be in His presence. It is the feeling and sense that Isaiah had when he had a vision of God.

      In our evangelical services, we have emphasized the friendship of God so much that we have lost a sense of the transcendence and holiness of God. Other worship traditions do that much better than we do and we can learn from them. We need to find ways of entering into the presence of God that recognize His majesty and His holiness.

C.                 Following

      Moses told the people that their worship response to God involved "following Him, keeping His command and obeying Him." This is another significant element of the how of worship. We may have the most incredible feelings and may enter into the presence of God in a powerful way in the worship service, but if we do not then go out and do what He wants, we have missed a large part of what it means to worship. Worship is not merely knowing God - a head experience. It is not merely feeling God - a heart experience. It is also a foot experience in which we walk about in daily life in obedience and following Him.

D.                Trusting

      The other element mentioned in this verse is to "hold fast to Him." Holding fast to God means trusting Him in all of life. The Psalms are wonderful in that they not only express the wonder of God when they call us to praise Him as creator, they also express the disorientation of our life in all its struggle and terror, but expressing our disorientation in the presence of God is an expression of trust in which we hold fast to Him no matter what is happening. When all of the world is falling down around us and we say, "nevertheless, I will trust you God," then we are worshipping.

E.                 Giving

      In 12:6,7, Moses talked about bringing "offerings, sacrifices, tithes and gifts. Then in chapter 14, still in the context of proper worship, he speaks again about tithing. Another part of worship is the regular donation of our gifts and offerings to God. In the Old Testament, the tithe was 10% of what they produced on their farms. The law about tithes was that two years out of three it was to be brought to the temple, a part of it given to the Levites and priests and a part used for a celebration in the presence of the Lord. On the third year, the tithe was to be given to the poor and the Levites and the priests. Tithes were only a part of what they were to give to God. They were also to bring sacrifices and offerings.

      We no longer follow this Old Testament patter, but giving is still a part of worship. In the New Testament, Paul instructs the Corinthian church to set aside "as the Lord prospers." Choosing to give 10% is a good beginning guideline for how much we give, but it is not legislated, instead, we need to give what we can cheerfully give as we recognize that all we have comes from God.

      Sometimes when people plan worship, they don't know what to do with the offering. I believe that giving our gifts and offerings is an act of worship which ought to form a regular part of our worship practice.

      Worship will happen when we find out what God has done and rejoice before Him and as we fear Him, obey Him, trust Him and give back to Him.

Conclusion

      There is nothing more wonderful than an encounter with the living God. Everytime I have experienced it, I rejoice. Yet so often, we struggle with worship related issues. Often we find worship boring and do it out of a sense of duty. I don't know how we lost a sense of what worship really is. Have we lost our focus? Have we neglected to expect an encounter with God? Have we come to worship services expecting a performance instead of a meeting with God?

      It is not so much a matter of knowing what to do. What I have said this morning is not news to you. You know that the center of worship must be God. You know that we must take time for worship and must do it individually and also as a gathered community. You know that worship styles are not as important as expressing joy at what what God is doing, fearing Him, following Him, trusting Him and allowing Him to own our wallet. In spite of the fact that we know these things, we still struggle with worship and yet worship is central to who we are.

      My prayer is that we will put these things into practise so that we can truly experience an encounter with God. As we meet with God, we will be encouraged, strengthened and motivated to worship Him in all of life. When we meet with God and realize what He is doing, we will give glory to Him and worship will be multiplied. I pray that all of us will experience a worship renewal.