Concerning Worship (Part 2 of 2)

The Bible is clear that proper worship is first and foremost God-focused, not self-focused. So how can we make sure we're doing this at the heart level, not just going through the motions when we come to worship?

We'll hear the answer today on Truth for Life. Alistair Begg is teaching from the opening verses in Ecclesiastes chapter 5. That is how you need to understand, loved ones, what happens when we come together in worship. Any holiness that attaches to the place comes and leaves with the presence of the holy ones—namely, those who have been set apart in God's service.

So the family is what makes this place what it is. That is why the place would become special to us in our reflection and in our anticipation, not because of the special nature of the structure but because of the unique nature of what takes place within the structure. So Ecclesiastes 5, the picture of the Solomon temple, Ephesians chapter 2 allows us to get a grasp of what we're dealing with today. Now, in light of that, we can then observe the instruction carefully. Four words, four statements will help us get through this little section of the text. The first one is the opening phrase of the chapter, guard your steps. Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. For the preacher, he's thinking of Solomon's temple. For us, we're thinking in particular terms, those of us who are the Parkside family, about our gathering here not only in this room but definitely in this room, regularly and purposefully in this space. And to guard our steps demands a certain perspective in our approach to the occasion. Do you think that you can spend all of Saturday on yourself and idle pursuits, go to bed late with your head full of nonsense, waken up slovenly, drag yourself finally into this building, and discover that as a result of somebody reading two verses from the book of Psalms, hey, presto, you just became a Spirit-filled worshiper? If you think that, you need to think again.

Preparation is absolutely crucial in the process. And the way we spend our waking moments on the Lord's Day sets the stall for the day. I know that people think I'm weird. I know they write it off as culture.

But I want as best as I can to begin my day on a Sunday differently from any other day. What does that mean for me? Well, it means that I don't read The New York Times.

Oh, you say, oh, he reads The Plain Dealer. No, I don't read that either. I've got six days of that coming at me, reacting to all of that New York Times journalism and getting tense, and reading book reviews and everything. But when I begin the Lord's Day, I don't need that.

In fact, it doesn't help me. It's about preparation. It's about guarding our steps. Engulfing terms is about alignment. It's about how you approach what you're about to do.

Now let me read from another Bible, Dave Peltz's short game Bible, for those of you who doubt this. Listen to what he says about alignment. He says, in golf vocabulary, my terms—set-up, alignment, aim, body alignment, and address—are all related to the same thing. In every game of golf, if you align your body improperly, your instincts will subconsciously make swing compensations intended to hit the shot in the desired direction.

Okay? So if you stand up to it wrongly, your brain knows that. And then your brain says, you don't want to go down that line, and it sends messages to the other parts of your body trying to fix the fact that you are set up incorrectly. Incorrectly, he says, and it's easier to make good swings. Because from a good position, good swings cause good results. Aim poorly, and a good swing will hit a bad shot.

So you'll have to make compensations to produce the desired results. So when you and I don't guard our steps, when we don't take the proper address, when we don't stand up to the thing properly, then we will be forced to make compensations all the way down the swing play in order to affect the desired results. So in other words, it's very, very important to guard your steps. Secondly, and more briefly, watch your mouth. Watch your mouth. Isn't that what verse 2 says? Do not be quick with your mouth. Mentally and verbally, each of us is at the center of our universe, filtering everything through how it affects us.

That's selfish. So the writer says, remember this, God's in heaven and you're on earth. So you might want to just not talk as much as you've been doing. You might not want to try and dribble out with all your verbal evangelical clichés to try and impress your friends and neighbors, all blessings and almighty and thy kindness and so of thy goodness and abideth all.

So the people say, what in the world are these people on about with all this stuff? Oh, she must be very holy. Did you hear the way she said, oh, the almighty blessing of thy kindness and superfid …?

You might want to watch your mouth. You might want to consider the infinite qualitative distinction between God and us. The infinite qualitative distinction.

It is as far removed as anything we could conceive. God is infinite. We're finite. He's immortal. We're mortal. He is invisible.

We're visible. He's Spirit. We're flesh. He's almighty.

We're weak. He's holy. We're sinful.

He's pure. We're impure. He's omniscient.

We're ignorant. He's unchangeable. We're fickle. He's faithful.

We're unfaithful. He is love in all of its fullness, and we are at best partial in our love. And what the writer is warning against here is the meaninglessness of mechanical worship. The meaninglessness of mechanical worship.

Excessive talk is virtually bound to throw up folly. I think that's the whole point of verse 3, is a dream comes when there are many cares, so the speech of a fool when there are many words. And verse 7, much dreaming and many words, they're meaningless. So he says you should beware, because God sees the invisible, and he hears the inaudible. God does not listen to this exercise in praise and study and application through the speakers. He doesn't listen to our prayers, as it were, through the microphone. He listens to what's going on through a stethoscope that he places on our chests or on our backs, and through which he hears what's really happening on the inside, irrespective of all the ambient noise, irrespective of everything that we may want to present to the outside.

When the physician takes you and he says, Breathe in, breathe out, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, what is that? Presumably he's getting information that makes him say, uh-huh. And when God looks upon us as worshippers, he doesn't listen to us through the speakers.

He listens to us through the stethoscope. And therefore, it is vitally important that in the way in which we use words, we're not using words in quantity to cover up the quality of our desire to praise him. One of the most classic illustrations of verbal doodling that I have found ever and have noted in my files came out of a period in the British-Irish conflict of some years ago when there was a great discussion taking place as to whether it was legitimate for talks to take place between the paramilitary organization represented in the Irish Republican Army and the British government itself. And a great political furore erupted about whether the British government was actually having talks. Oh no, said the government, we're not having talks. We may be having discussions, but we're not having talks.

And one poor soul was asked to represent the government's position in relationship to this very subtle distinction. And this is a direct quote from him speaking on the radio, and then they put it in the London Times. He says, We believe that it should be possible to have discussions to see whether it is possible to have talks. But during this period in which we see whether such discussions can be held, to see whether there is a basis on which talks can go forward, these talks are being entered into by either side with no precondition, and that is quite clearly understood by either side. We're not talking about talks.

We're talking about quite separate discussion, probably conducted at a lower level, exploratory discussion to see if a basis exists on which talks might then be held. People are going, What was that? And God looks down on our worship, and he says, What was that? Guard your steps, watch your mouths, keep your vows. Verse 4, When you make a vow to God, don't delay in fulfilling it. See, there's a danger in worship. You come to worship, and the Word of God speaks to you. And as a result of that, you tell God something about yourself. This is what I'm going to do, God, in response to what I've heard today. You don't have to.

It's something entirely voluntary. And so you tell him about your life or your finance or your future or your career or that I'm willing to ditch this girl or have this girl ditch me because she's unhelpful to me, this friendship is unhelpful, this place is unwise, and so on. And I'm telling you today, Lord, as I sing this final song, that I am done with this or I'm committed to that. I make my vow to you. Well then, says the preacher, make sure two things don't happen. One, verse 4, make sure you don't delay in fulfilling it.

And number two, make sure you don't deny the fact that you made it. Verse 6. And I don't have time to pause here, but some of you have made vows to God in the past.

This is what I'm going to do, and this is what I plan to do, and so on, and weeks and months and perhaps even years have elapsed. And somehow or another, you find yourself grinding in the process of seeking to follow him, up against it, as it were, all the time. The wall is too high. The track is too long. The challenge is too great.

And you wonder why it is. Check just to see whether somewhere in your journey you didn't say to God, Listen, I promised my life to you. I promised this to you. And you've delayed on it. And now when pressed, you say, Well, that was actually a mistake.

I didn't mean to say what I said. Well, today is another opportunity. Another opportunity to make good on your promises. Always keep your promises, especially when you make them to God. Finally, our opening phrase was the opening phrase. Our closing phrase is the closing phrase. Guard your steps, watch your mouth, keep your vows, and stand in awe.

Stand in awe. A-W-E. Remember that word for the next time you're playing Scrabble?

It's very useful. And then go and look it up in a dictionary. A good dictionary. You'll discover that it is a synonym for reverential fear. It's not a synonym for terror. Terror is the reaction of guilt in the face of God's holiness. It's the desire only to run away from God in despair. And what the writer is urging upon those who are involved in the gathered worship here is not some kind of terror that drives them away from God. No, he wants them to stand in the fear of God.

He's going to make that clear before he finishes his book. To fear God for these individuals, to stand in awe of God, would be to be filled with a sense of breathtaking awe at the character of God. To realize with shame that although we had been created to live in his image, that by our sin we have forfeited that privilege, we have forfeited our destiny. It is to recognize that we have suddenly begun to discover the costly way in which the image of God would then be restored in the life of his creation. That because the image of God has been marred by sin, God as a remedy sends his Son to die on the cross in order that we entering into the benefits of his death may now be made into the perfect picture of all that God desires for us to be—intermittently and falteringly, but eventually coming to glorious fruition when we stand before God. This kind of awe results from the discovery that God knows me through and through, and he knows the sin in my life, and he means to destroy it. And the reason he means to destroy it—and sometimes as mighty sore as he does, as mighty painful as he comes to us, like a surgeon with a scalpel—but he does it because he loves us with an intensely faithful love.

And this is the weird, extreme paradox of God—that he detests sin in us more than we were ever prepared to admit, and yet he loves us in Christ more than we can ever imagine. And so the psalmist is able to grapple with it, and he says, With you there is forgiveness, therefore you are to be feared. With you there is forgiveness, therefore you are to be feared.

Isn't that a misprint in the Bible? Shouldn't it be, With you there is forgiveness, therefore you don't have to be feared? No, with you there is forgiveness, therefore I stand in awe of you. We began there, did we not? If you, O LORD, should keep a record of our sins, which of us would stand?

None of us! So does God just wink at sin? Does he just overlook it? No, because he is a just God, it must be punished. And there in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, all of God's justice is brought to bear, and all of God's love is made manifest. And when my soul begins to grapple with this, that you see to the very core of me, that you know all that needs to be sorted in me, and yet you love me. With you there is forgiveness, therefore, God, I stand in awe of you. My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross. I stand in awe of you. I don't run out and sin like a crazy person. I don't run out and abuse your name. I don't play short and fast and loose with the promises and laws of God, because I'm in awe of you. And such filial fear.

Because that's what it is. Not servile fear. The Reformers distinguish between servile fear, which is the terror in confronting guilt and running away in despair, with filial fear. And if you want to understand filial fear, let me tell you what filial fear means. Filial fear, induced in our lives, always asks one essential question of any decision, any activity. One question. Will Father approve?

That's a question. That's when I know I fear God. That's when I know that I want so much to live under his smile, and I dread to live under his frown, that when I'm making decisions about my life and about opportunities, about the way I spend my weekends and the way I spend my money and with whom I spend my time, if I will simply pause and ask this question, Will Father approve?

and then make a decision on the basis of that, then all will be changed. Because this same Father is the Father who accepts whatever we do out of love for him, however crummy it is. This Father accepts whatever we do out of love for him, however crummy it is. He's not looking for worshipers that are perfect. He's looking for worshipers that are humble and honest. He's not looking for servants that are just the best. He's just looking for humble servants.

He treats our crummy contributions the way in which we as earthly fathers treat our own children's faltering crummy contributions. Isn't that why you have a box somewhere, or boxes somewhere, with little scribbles in them, and little drawings in them, and little things that were done during the church services when you were trying to get them to listen, and they wouldn't listen, and they were drawing pictures of whoever they were drawing. My kids are drawing pictures of me and the lady up the pew, but anyway, I have them in the box. I take them out and look at them as if they were drawings by Rembrandt. They mean that much to me. Why?

Because although they were faltering and they're not particularly good, they were offered to me in love by those who are the objects of my affection. And yet some of you are here this morning and say, Well, I don't like this kind of Christianity, this fear stuff. Isn't that the Old Testament, the fear of God, you know? I thought we were in the New Testament now.

Listen, listen. Jesus said, Don't be afraid of the people that can kill your body. Be afraid of him who can cast your soul down into hell. That was not some raging word from the fires of Sinai.

That was the word from the lips of Jesus, the gentle, loving shepherd. He issues a word of warning. Fear God in this way, and you will have nothing else to fear. Neglect to fear God in this way, and you'll fear everything else—the uncertainty of the future, the reality of death, the decisions of life.

All of these things then become the occasion for manifold fear. But still people say, No, I don't want to have a God like that. What kind of God do you want to have? Do you want to have a little God you can put on the dashboard of your car, a little shrine that you can move around with you, put in your Bible, put in your bedroom, a manageable God of non-fearable proportions? Such a God is useless. Who's going to worship that which we're not in awe of? We only worship that which is majestic and fantastic. There's some little God, manageable little God, that we carry around with us.

No, no. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Guard your steps, watch your mouth, keep your promises, stand in awe. Will Father approve?

That's an important question each of us should be asking ourselves routinely. You're listening to Truth for Life with Alistair Begg. Alistair returns shortly to close today's program. Now if you listen to Truth for Life regularly you've probably heard me mention that we are 100% listener funded. One way your donations are invested is in the translation of books. Our team is working with a dedicated group of international translators and publishers to make Alistair's books available in many languages.

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Sign up online at truthforlife.org slash truth partner or call us at 888-588-7884. Now here's Alistair to close with prayer. Father we thank you this morning for guiding our steps to this place and we thank you for your word which is clear. Grant that anything that I have said which is unclear or untrue or unhelpful may be banished from our recollection and all that is of yourself that we will be unable to evade it and that we will be able to enjoy it. And grant that these simple principles may increasingly become the hallmark of our lives. Help us Lord to understand what it means to stand in awe of you. I'm Bob Lapine on behalf of all of us at Truth for Life. If you find yourself preoccupied during worship by anxious thoughts or endless to-do lists, join us tomorrow when we'll learn how we can realign our priorities and adjust our thinking so we are fully present when we attend church. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life where the Learning is for Living.