The Holy Spirit and Worship

Father in heaven, this is our heart's desire tonight, just to seek after you. Just this one thing, to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of our life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, to inquire in your temple. And I just simply thank you tonight for your presence here among us. Lord, we never take this for granted, never. We are so thankful that when we gather together, Lord Jesus, in your name, here you are. By the grace of the Holy Spirit, let us hear your word. That indeed, we might come tonight as priests to our God and Father because of you, to worship, to praise, to honor, and yield all that we are and all that we have to you, to the glory of the Father, and in the blessed name, our Lord Jesus Christ, amen. Good evening. I don't know if you heard this in the reading tonight, but I just, I want to parallel these two passages. Solomon, Solomon here at the moment of the temple, when it is all done and all completed, and here's this moment, and Solomon prays, now rise, O Lord, and go to your resting place. You and the ark of your might, let your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let your saints rejoice in your goodness. O Lord God, do not turn away the face of your anointed one. Remember your steadfast love for David, your servant, and as he finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple, and everyone fell upon their face to worship and praise. In the mighty presence of the Lord, the glory fell, and these words, this capture of these words and of this prayer echoes back to his dad here in Psalm 132, King David. He said, I will not give sleep to my eyes, slumber to my eyelids until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the mighty one of Jacob. Behold, we have heard it in Ephrathah. We have found it in the fields of Jaar. Let us go to his temple. Let's go to his dwelling place. Worship at his footstool, and hear the words. They say the same thing. Arise, O Lord. Go to your resting place, you and the ark of your might. Let your priests be clothed with righteousness, and let your saints shout for joy. This passion for the glory of the Lord, this passion to be in his presence, to worship. And hear, hear the sound of this. The priests being clothed with salvation, the priests being clothed with righteousness, to come before the Lord, to adore and to worship him and him alone. And hear, having the last reading being the gospel, when the Lord Jesus opened the scriptures to his disciples, he opened the scriptures that they could see everything fulfilled in him, in the law, in the prophets, in Moses, all things fulfilled in him. Fulfilled in him. And then he says, and I want you to stay in the city until you're clothed with power from on high. Did you connect that? Did you hear that? You see, Jesus, our Lord, has been the sacrifice. He's already gone to the cross. The fire has already come down. And now, what we need now is the last piece of fulfillment on this story. And this story is the glory of the Lord is about to fall on his temple. And his temple happens to be not made of Solomon's stones, but of living stones. Pentecost is coming. And the glory of the Lord's gonna fall. Pentecost is coming. There's a hunger for it in the soul of David, but right from the beginning, there's a hunger for it. I wonder if that hunger is in you. Pentecost comes to fulfill a great promise of scripture. And in the midst of it, his people are being called to be his priests. Just as it says in Revelation 1-5, to him who loves us, having said Jesus, the faithful witness, Jesus, the firstborn of the dead, Jesus, the ruler of the kings of the earth, to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom and priests to his God and father. To him be the glory. This is what he's calling us to do, to be before the Lord, to worship him. And so tonight, I would love to speak about Pentecost and mission. Because so much of Pentecost is wrapped up in the empowerment of people for us to be in service and bear witness of Jesus. Just like he said in Acts 1-8, you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses. So it's very typical of us to go and connect Pentecost with mission because they're connected. But the first mission of Pentecost is the empowerment of the people of God to worship. Worship is everything. Worship is everything in the scriptures. Worship is everything in the garden of Eden where we had fellowship with the Lord. And it was when sin came into the world and we went into exile, out of Eden, out of his fellowship, and sin rent us apart, that the Lord in his mercy made a way possible. To worship. I said that just the way I meant it. He made a way. Do you know that the Christians were first called? And so we start with Cain and Abel. Cain, not so much. We start with Abel. And we see three things in worship, right from the beginning. Right from the beginning, we see three things already in worship. Worship has everything to do with sacrifice. And sacrifice has everything to do with obedience. For obedience is better than sacrifice. And yet obedience, by the word of the Lord, leads us to sacrifice. Which leads us in his presence to worship. And the whole story begins. This wonderful symphony that's going to stretch from that moment straight to the New Jerusalem. This beautiful symphony of the temple of God. This wonderful symphony. By the time you get to Moses, it's all matured a little bit. And now we see more. The pattern from heaven has now been given to Moses and the tabernacle is designed. And we see in it that the way is made clear. The way begins at the bronze altar, the place of sacrifice. And once you go through the sacrifice, you come to the laver bowl to be washed with water. And then you go into the very holy place where the candlestick is. The wonderful image of the Holy Spirit, fueled with oil, the light that comes. And then you come to the incense where the prayers ascend. And the table of showbread, the fellowship, it's all there, but there's a veil. Because the sin has still separated us, there's a veil. But inside is the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy of Holies, the place that will be filled with His glory. And once the tabernacle is done and Aaron offers all the sacrifices in Leviticus 9, I'm sure you've memorized Leviticus 9. Who hasn't? But Leviticus 9, as you well know, what happens is once the sacrifice is there on the altar, guess what happens? The glory comes down, fire comes from heaven once again, consuming the sacrifice and the people worship and praise. He's calling us, He's inviting us into His worship and to watch the glory come down. David was formed in this manner. David discipled under Samuel. If you ever read that 1 Samuel 19, you'll find that Samuel had a place called Ramah. And Ramah is where the Holy Spirit came in power. I mean so much power that when Saul blessed his heart as they say in the South, bless his heart. When Saul came to Ramah in pursuit of David, all he could do in coming close to the glory of the Lord is fall down, strip himself completely and prophesy. He saw all among the prophets, prophesy. David was trained in the glory of the presence of the Lord. David was trained there. David actually, you see in the passion of Psalm 132, wanting to bring the Ark out of exile. David has a gift that is only brief in Scripture. It's an extraordinary moment. It's a 40 year moment in Scripture where suddenly the tabernacle breaks in half. And the place of the offering and sacrifice happens in Gibeon it's called. But the Ark of the Covenant goes into the city of David. The Holy of Holies is in the city of David. Mount Zion it is called. And the separation happens. My friends, if you ever want to read the Psalms in a brand new way, come into the presence of the Lord. David's Psalms were written for the most part in the worship and in the praise. This was the sound of bringing Asaph and the musicians, the sounds of praise. His mercy endures forever. His love, he is good. The Lord is good. His greatness is unsearchable. Praise, just praise of the people. 24 hours a day, it's worship. It's just worship. And so much of this was in the heart of David that when the Lord spoke these words to him in First Chronicles in chapter 17, listen to the sound of them. When your days are fulfilled to walk with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons. I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for me and I will establish his throne forever. And I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son. And I will not take my steadfast love from him as I took it from him who was before you. But I will confirm him in my house and in my kingdom forever and his throne shall be established. He's going to come and he's going to establish his house and his throne forever. And so Solomon comes. And so Solomon reigns as king. And so Solomon builds the temple. But Solomon actually isn't the one he was talking about. It's the promised son that's going to come. And he's got a temple of his own to build that fulfills the temples before. Haggai 2.9 says, the latter glory shall be greater than the former glory. He's going to fill his house. He's going to fill the living stones with the presence of the Holy Spirit, the glory of the Lord. This is called church. Our call is to worship. And so Jesus says the words that make all the sense now. I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. And so he begins. He has one focus, the reason that he came. He's very clear. Gospel of John always kind of underscores this, does it not? My time has not yet come. My time has not yet come. Worship, sacrifice. And we know this. The scriptures are very clear about this. Leviticus 17.11 says, the life of the flesh is in the blood. And I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls. It is the blood that makes atonement for you. And scripture continues to echo it in Hebrews 9. All things are cleansed by blood. All things. There is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood. And so Jesus comes. Again, so clear in scripture. The lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. His very person. Echoed in Isaiah 53. Surely he took up our infirmities. He carried our sorrows. Yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him and afflicted, but he was pierced for our transgression. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him. And by his wounds, we are healed. It would cost him everything. Listen to the sound of this. It's not possible to conceive this. The mind is too small to understand this. The words are given to us to just get a glimpse, but listen to the sound of them again. He made him who knew no sin to become sin on our behalf. That we might become the righteousness of God in him. And so Jesus, our Lord, shows us another aspect of worship. It's worship that's only possible through sacrifice. And sacrifice is only coming out of obedience. But obedience comes out of, what do you think? Let me read it to you. In John chapter 14, verse 31. I do as the Father has commanded me so that the world may know that I love the Father. Before obedience comes love. He is doing what he's doing out of obedience to his Father because he loves his Father. This is why he echoes before this. He says, he who loves me will be loved by my Father. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me. It's everything. It's love that Jesus, for his Father, obeyed his Father. And in obeying his Father, offered himself as a sacrifice for you and for me. And in that moment of sacrifice on the cross is worship. And in that moment of the cross, in that worship, the veil was rent so that you and I may come to the Father through the Son, by the Spirit. So he turns around and says, okay, you follow me. Do you know what that means? It doesn't mean that we get to go around the cross. You did that for me, excellent. I just need to go to the labor bowl, go in and come to worship. Except Jesus never said that. If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. It's gonna cost me everything. It's costing you everything. It's the story. It's the story. You've gotta come to the cross. And I know we know this, because this is the whole point of baptism, is it not? We are buried with him in baptism. We're raised, it all makes sense. We identify ourselves in his death and in his resurrection so that we can say with utter confidence, Galatians 2.20, say it with me. I am crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, Christ lives in me. I've been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live. I died, I've been risen. We all say it, but the cost. You see, this is the beauty behind it. Let me just phrase it, because it is the single most piercing question of all scripture. It's the, for me, it is the single most piercing question of all the scripture. When Jesus looks at Peter and says, do you love me more than these? Do you love me more than these? This is the thing that happens when you come to meet Jesus and realize what he's done for you. When you realize that he's come to rescue you, when you realize that he loves you and has freed you from our sins, my sins, by his blood, when it becomes real to us and you realize he's everything, he's everything. Nothing else matters. Nothing else actually has any priority except for him because of what he's done. He's opened a way home. He's everything. When this life comes to its end, he's everything. Is he not? Do you love me? He's calling us to follow him and he calls us to follow him. He wants all of us. Do you love me? Listen to the way Paul would say it. Whatever was to my prophet, I consider lost for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to this, knowing Jesus, my Lord, the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus, my Lord. Do you love me more than these? And that question, it just pierces the heart. Let me give some examples. Let me just, so I can outline this, just so I'm making sure I'm connecting with you right this moment. Jesus meets the rich young ruler. Does he not? And the rich young ruler, he's got everything buttoned tight. He is so obedient. Most likely does this. Everything is going really, really well. Really well. The only problem is the question, more than these. And that's, if I could use it in the language of hands, it's yes, I love you more than these. But his hand is on the money. And Jesus sees it. But for him, there's an idol. There's a both and. There's a, do you love me more than these? Are you ready to let go of the hand and follow me? Are you ready to follow me? Are you ready to let go of the hand? And the rich young ruler walked away. It's one thing to say it. It's another thing to know it. Abraham, I want you to follow me. You're kindred, you're country, you're father's house to a place you don't know. Follow me. And he did. Abraham, your son, your only son. The one that you love. Go to Mount Moriah and worship and offer your son. Now this is a grown up passage. This is a moment of imagery that just stretches the whole of scripture of a father offering his son. On the mount, it will be provided. It's a big scripture. But the question is still the same. It's always the same. Do you love me more than these? Do you love me more than these? I love the way Dietrich Bonhoeffer did this in the cost of discipleship. He said that when Abraham and Isaac went up the mountain and when they came down the mountain, it all looked the same. But the way he says it, when they came down the mountain, henceforth, he will have his son in quite a new way. Through the mediator and for the mediator sake to possess him through Jesus Christ. Coming down the mountain, Christ has stepped between. And this is called order. This is called order. It's always been this way. So love him with all our heart and mind and soul and strength. And then he gives us the most wonderful gifts in life. The most wonderful gifts. But they're never ours. Nothing we have is ours. Not our health, not everything we love, not all the circumstances that happen in this life. Nothing is ours. Our hands are always meant to first be here. But the danger always is, is it not, that one hand goes up and the other hand clenches, clings onto something, holds onto something. And suddenly we feel inside of us a strange entitlement and this odd reversal happens. You're the one who gave it to me. And I now love what you gave to me. And this little thing happens where we love what he's given more than the one who gave it. And it spoils in our hand. So many of us, part of the reason that we can't actually go the way in its fullness is that we have been hurt right here. We've been hurt right here. Life circumstances have happened. And something inside us, deep in the emotions, a trauma that's happened to you. Life and suffering and circumstances and something inside of us gets hurt. And in that hurt, it's almost as if there is this entitlement. Why did you do this to me? We get angry, we distance. Maybe we don't say it or maybe we do. Why has he done this? This is mine. He gave it, this is mine. And somehow I'm entitled to it. Didn't I live a good life? Haven't I done well? Isn't done things well? Why has this happened to me? And quite subtly, relationally, we distance from him. We distance. Say the right things, maybe present the same image and a good image. And maybe we come to worship and all of it is looking outside the same. But inside, there's distance. And the question, do you love me more than these actually hurts. It actually wounds the heart. Because there's still this something inside. This sort of event that has happened. And when I run into this, and I run into this in my practice of coming alongside people, it's an emotion inside of us that's distanced. I don't know what else to do, but the one thing to do is I want to tell you about Jesus. I want you to experience him. I want you to come. I want you to come. I want you to come meet him. I want you to come see him again. Eyes off the hurt. Eyes off the circumstances. Come, lift your eyes unto the Lord. Lift your eyes to Jesus in his splendor and in his glory. You might not understand why it happened ever in this life. No, no. But you're going to know the one who comes into the valley of our suffering and stretches out a rod and a staff and has us more than these. Sometimes I think in the Garden of Eden, this was actually the moment of the origin of the temptation. I know there are some people who think that inside Adam was sort of a parallel to what happened to Lucifer in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, a certain pride, a rebellion, a disobedience that crept into his heart, a certain desire to be like God. There's a temptation inside to get the dominion for himself. People have said that. I've heard preachers say that. I just don't agree. Because, you know, inside of him, he was in the image of God, Agape filled him. I can't even imagine what Adam and Eve were in their origin. They were full of the imago Dei, the image of God. And I think, as I exposit this text from John 21, more than these, sometimes I see Adam looking at his wife, who was deceived. She was not tempted, she was deceived. And yet by taking that fruit, she fell. She was changed. And as he looked at her and that fruit that was extended, the temptation was there. How do you love and not join? How does Agape not Agape? The order is this to this, but is it possible that the first Adam laid down his life for his bride in disobedience, but the last Adam laid down his life for his bride in obedience to his father? Because this comes first. This comes first. He comes first. I don't know how else to say it. He comes first. He comes first in this life. He comes first. He always comes first because he's beautiful, because he's glorious, because it's him, because what we really need to do is get a taste of his glory, a taste of his presence. But I say to you, this is a hard place to be, and I know it's a hard place to be, but it's the right place to be because he wants us to walk the way. He wants us to go through Calvary, to give ourselves completely, give it all to him. And when he's done, to wash us, to make us new, to get into the very presence of the Lord, the veil has been rent, and be filled, filled with the Holy Spirit, and that all that we've been given, the families that we've been given, the gifts we've been given, Christ stands between us and them. Christ steps between, and all things are in order. And we take our hands off, and we raise our hands up, and give him thanks for all he's given us. But the cost, but the cost. Is it possible that you can actually, with me, say the words, I urge you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, I present my body a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is reasonable service of worship, to present ourselves a living sacrifice. I had, I shall tell you, I had one hand up, and one hand on my wife. When she was going through her last days, I watched her take her hand from mine, and lift it. I watched it, in her suffering. Didn't matter the pain. Jesus, Jesus was everything. She was, she was just praising him in her pain. I wanted to cling. I didn't want to hear the words more than these. But more than these, is everything. It is everything. And I saw it in her. I saw the grace to go home. Her savior was about to come, who she loved with all her heart. He's our way home. And nothing else matters, but him. And his love for us. Friends, I know there's many things in this life that you're hurting from, and that you maybe have distanced from the Lord. Tonight, no more distance. You might not understand why you have suffered. And you might never understand in this life, and it may be the deepest suffering of your life. But lift your hands to your savior. Lift your hands to your savior. Oh, he loves you so much, he gave himself completely for you. Give yourself completely. It's not part of you he wants. It's not half of you he wants. It's not almost nearly, you've gotta be kidding, it's so close that he wants. He wants to take us the way. He wants his church filled with his glory. He wants to be Lord of our life. It's time to yield to him. All that we are, and all that we have, does that sound familiar? As we share the rings together, I give you this ring as a symbol of my vow. And all that I am, and all that I have, I honor you. These words belong first to our savior. What are you clutching onto? What are you holding fast? It's time to let it go. Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it. But he who hates his life in this world shall keep it to life everlasting. And if anyone serves me, let him follow me. And where I am, there shall my servant also be. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. I want you to surrender all that you are to him tonight. The Holy Spirit has come to bring us into worship. But he's asking us, give it all. Do I have all? Yield it all. I tell you, it costs everything to follow Jesus. It costs everything to follow Jesus. But there's nothing like it, not here and not in the age to come. Surrender it all.