Guard your steps when you go to the house of the Lord. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. ~Ecclesiastes 5:1-2
Simply let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No,” be “No,” anything beyond this comes from the evil one. ~Matthew 5:37
One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple. For in the day of trouble He will keep me safe in His dwelling. He will hide me in the shelter of His tabernacle and set me high upon a rock. ~Psalm 27:4-5
Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips.” Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil, to take part in wicked deeds with men who are evil doers; Let me not eat of their delicacies. ~Psalm 141:4-5
Before Christ, there was the temple. Probably all of you know that the first temple was built by Solomon. It was a magnificent affair that must have really stood out against the rural country setting with only one-story structures around it. Solomon’s Father, David actually designed the temple, modeled largely after the tabernacle which was a portable dwelling that served as a sanctuary until the temple was built. This temple was destroyed by the Babylonians.
While the Jewish people were in exile in Babylon, the Synagogue was created as a local place of worship and a place of instruction for children, as young as six, boys mostly. The Synagogue met the need of insuring that the faith would be passed along to the next generation.
One of the reasons that Israel was in exile was because they had failed to pass along their faith in the family, (home schooling), so it was decided that a more formal approach might be more successful. When the exiles returned from Babylon, by order of King Cyrus, under the guidance of Jeshua the priest and Zerubbabel, with fits and starts, a new temple eventually was built.
That temple was added to and modified over the centuries, especially by King Herod, yes, the King Herod of Jesus’ day, and became a central location of worship for the Jews, but the local synagogues were where the people met locally on a weekly basis. During this time, the church was born. The Bible mentions that they met in the outer court of the temple at first, but eventually, worship was moved into the home. In 70 AD the second temple was destroyed by the Romans and Jewish worship took place only in the local synagogues.
Christian groups stayed small and inconspicuous, for good reason. Then, when Christianity was officially adopted and brought into vogue by the Roman empire, worship became so formal and austere that commoners were exempt from most of the worship experience. They were expected to be baptized as infants, and participate in “Mass,” or communion, but other practices, such as reading the Word, participating in prayer, were largely withheld, especially from the poor.
After the Reformation, worship began to take place in many different ways: more formal, less formal. A lot of how worship was done depended on how doctrine was interpreted, local culture and even climate determined some worship practices. Probably most people would say that our worship today is very informal, completely at the other end of the spectrum from when the church was adopted by Rome.
House churches are even coming back. Individuals have their preferences for worship styles and cultures. It’s really kind of amazing when you think about it. So, what’s the point of the brief, history overview? I’m hoping that it will help us remember that worship is more than a specific place or a specific behavior.
Our concept and practice of worship have changed and evolved throughout the ages, but the God we worship has not. Whether we are meeting in someone’s home, a huge, formal liturgical church, a charismatic church, a small congregation such as ours, or our daily quiet time, the attitude that we bring to the experience is what Solomon is talking about here.
“Guard your steps when you go to the house of the Lord. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.” This is good advice no matter where we are at worship.
“One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.” Whether at home or in a larger setting, when we enter into worship, we are entering into His sanctuary. We are no longer in our sitting room, bedroom, dining table, pew or pew chair. We are in the throne room of Grace, a sacred space.
1 Peter 2:5 says, “You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” If we are living stones, the prayer of the psalmist has been answered! We dwell in the house of the Lord forever, because we are the house! When we remember that, we can remember the call to reverence because of who’s presence we are in.
It’s all about the attitude. We need to remember that it is a privilege to be here. Our place in this sanctuary was purchased at a very high price. We are blessed to have the aid of the Holy Spirit to help us in our worship, to guide us in approaching the throne of grace and to speak for us when we do not know what to say. “Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord. Keep watch over the door of my lips.” God loves it when we come to Him, and we do well to remember all that He is and all that he means to us.
Prayer: Father, the moment I address you in prayer, the ground or floor, the spot where I am, becomes a sacred space, where reverence for you and awe of Your glory ought to fill my soul. You make me holy! I want to be holy because You are Holy. Help me to respect that time with you and treat it with reverence because you have invited me into to your holy presence. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Song: Holy Ground
Simply let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No,” be “No,” anything beyond this comes from the evil one. ~Matthew 5:37
One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple. For in the day of trouble He will keep me safe in His dwelling. He will hide me in the shelter of His tabernacle and set me high upon a rock. ~Psalm 27:4-5
Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips.” Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil, to take part in wicked deeds with men who are evil doers; Let me not eat of their delicacies. ~Psalm 141:4-5
Before Christ, there was the temple. Probably all of you know that the first temple was built by Solomon. It was a magnificent affair that must have really stood out against the rural country setting with only one-story structures around it. Solomon’s Father, David actually designed the temple, modeled largely after the tabernacle which was a portable dwelling that served as a sanctuary until the temple was built. This temple was destroyed by the Babylonians.
While the Jewish people were in exile in Babylon, the Synagogue was created as a local place of worship and a place of instruction for children, as young as six, boys mostly. The Synagogue met the need of insuring that the faith would be passed along to the next generation.
One of the reasons that Israel was in exile was because they had failed to pass along their faith in the family, (home schooling), so it was decided that a more formal approach might be more successful. When the exiles returned from Babylon, by order of King Cyrus, under the guidance of Jeshua the priest and Zerubbabel, with fits and starts, a new temple eventually was built.
That temple was added to and modified over the centuries, especially by King Herod, yes, the King Herod of Jesus’ day, and became a central location of worship for the Jews, but the local synagogues were where the people met locally on a weekly basis. During this time, the church was born. The Bible mentions that they met in the outer court of the temple at first, but eventually, worship was moved into the home. In 70 AD the second temple was destroyed by the Romans and Jewish worship took place only in the local synagogues.
Christian groups stayed small and inconspicuous, for good reason. Then, when Christianity was officially adopted and brought into vogue by the Roman empire, worship became so formal and austere that commoners were exempt from most of the worship experience. They were expected to be baptized as infants, and participate in “Mass,” or communion, but other practices, such as reading the Word, participating in prayer, were largely withheld, especially from the poor.
After the Reformation, worship began to take place in many different ways: more formal, less formal. A lot of how worship was done depended on how doctrine was interpreted, local culture and even climate determined some worship practices. Probably most people would say that our worship today is very informal, completely at the other end of the spectrum from when the church was adopted by Rome.
House churches are even coming back. Individuals have their preferences for worship styles and cultures. It’s really kind of amazing when you think about it. So, what’s the point of the brief, history overview? I’m hoping that it will help us remember that worship is more than a specific place or a specific behavior.
Our concept and practice of worship have changed and evolved throughout the ages, but the God we worship has not. Whether we are meeting in someone’s home, a huge, formal liturgical church, a charismatic church, a small congregation such as ours, or our daily quiet time, the attitude that we bring to the experience is what Solomon is talking about here.
“Guard your steps when you go to the house of the Lord. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.” This is good advice no matter where we are at worship.
“One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.” Whether at home or in a larger setting, when we enter into worship, we are entering into His sanctuary. We are no longer in our sitting room, bedroom, dining table, pew or pew chair. We are in the throne room of Grace, a sacred space.
1 Peter 2:5 says, “You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” If we are living stones, the prayer of the psalmist has been answered! We dwell in the house of the Lord forever, because we are the house! When we remember that, we can remember the call to reverence because of who’s presence we are in.
It’s all about the attitude. We need to remember that it is a privilege to be here. Our place in this sanctuary was purchased at a very high price. We are blessed to have the aid of the Holy Spirit to help us in our worship, to guide us in approaching the throne of grace and to speak for us when we do not know what to say. “Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord. Keep watch over the door of my lips.” God loves it when we come to Him, and we do well to remember all that He is and all that he means to us.
Prayer: Father, the moment I address you in prayer, the ground or floor, the spot where I am, becomes a sacred space, where reverence for you and awe of Your glory ought to fill my soul. You make me holy! I want to be holy because You are Holy. Help me to respect that time with you and treat it with reverence because you have invited me into to your holy presence. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Song: Holy Ground
Comments
Post a Comment