The God Who Won’t Be Used: Finding True Worship in a World of Idols

[00:01:05] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
I keep fighting voices in my mind that say I'm not enough Every single lie that tells me I will never measure up
[00:01:33] Am I more than just the sum of every high and every low?
[00:01:46] Remind me once again just who I am because I need to know
[00:01:57] You say I am loved when I can't feel a thing You say I am strong when I think I am weak You say I am held when I am falling short And when I don't belong Oh, You say I am Yours and I believe
[00:02:30] The only thing that matters now is everything you think of me.
[00:02:51] In you I find my worth, in you I find my identity.
[00:02:59] You say I am loved when I can't feel a thing You say I am strong when I think I am weak
[00:03:15] And you say I am held when I am falling short And when I don't belong, oh you say I am yours And I believe, oh I believe what you say of me
[00:03:46] I'm taking all I have and now I'm laying it at Your feet You have every failure, God, and You have every victory Every victory
[00:04:10] You say I am loved when I can't feel a thing You say I am strong when I think I am weak You say I am held when I am falling short When I don't believe
[00:04:46] What you say of me Oh I believe What you say of me Jesus

[00:05:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
I just want to speak the name of Jesus Over every heart and every mind

[00:05:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
I know there is peace within your presence I speak Jesus I just want to speak the name of Jesus Till every dark addiction starts to break
[00:06:05] Good morning everybody.

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Welcome to Center Church.
[00:06:22] We are so happy to have you here with us and I
[00:06:27] I wanted to get us started off by letting us know that today's service the theme is the blessing of worshiping the true and living God and our call to worship comes from Psalm 135 and so I want to invite you to stand with me are this do we have it up here on the screen okay stand up with me and we'll read it together this is from Psalm 135
[00:06:53] Praise the Lord.
[00:06:54] Praise the name of the Lord.
[00:06:56] Praise Him, you servants of the Lord.
[00:07:00] I know that the Lord is great, that our Lord is greater than all gods.
[00:07:06] The Lord does whatever pleases Him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths.
[00:07:15] The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by human hands.
[00:07:21] They have mouths but cannot speak, eyes but cannot see, they have ears but cannot hear, nor is there breath in their mouths.
[00:07:34] Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.
[00:07:40] We come to praise the Lord, the only living God.
[00:07:44] Father, we are here to worship you, and we pray, Lord, that your Spirit
[00:07:50] Let our praise be your welcome Let our songs be a sign We are here for you

[00:08:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
Let your breath come from heaven Fill our hearts with your life We are here for you We are here for you To you our hearts are open
[00:08:56] Our one desire You alone are holy Only You are worthy God, let Your fire fall down Let our shouts Be Your anthem Your renown Fill the sky We are here for You
[00:09:34] Let Your Word move in power Let what's dead come to life We are here for You
[00:09:57] Our hearts are open Nothing near is hidden You are our one desire You alone are holy Only You are worthy God, let Your fire fall down We welcome You with praise
[00:10:23] We welcome you with praise Almighty God of love Be welcomed in this place We welcome you with praise We welcome you with praise Almighty God of love Be welcomed in this place Let every heart adore Let every soul awake Almighty God of love
[00:10:53] We welcome you with praise, we welcome you with praise Almighty God of love, be welcome in this place All our hearts are open, nothing here is hidden You are our one desire You alone are holy, only you are
[00:11:23] We welcome you with praise We welcome you with praise Almighty God of love Be welcome in this place We welcome you with praise We welcome you with praise Almighty God of love Be welcome in this place Let every heart adore
[00:11:52] Let every soul awake Almighty God of love Be welcomed in this place We welcome you with praise We welcome you with praise Almighty God of love We welcome you

[00:12:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
As the deer panted for the water so my soul longeth after Thee You alone are my heart's desire and I long to worship Thee

[00:12:58] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
You alone are my strength, my shield, to you alone may my spirit yield.
[00:13:11] You alone are my heart's desire and I love you.
[00:13:33] You're my friend and you are my brother even though you are a king.
[00:13:47] I love you more than any other, so much more than anything.
[00:14:08] You alone make my spirit yield You alone are my heart's desire and adorn to worship You
[00:14:37] I want you more than gold or silver, only you can satisfy.
[00:14:50] You alone are the real joy giver and the apple of life.
[00:15:10] You alone make my spirit new.
[00:15:18] You alone are my heart's desire and I long to worship you.
[00:15:48] How I long to worship Thee How I long to worship Thee

[00:16:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Father, we are thankful for this opportunity to be gathered here and to sing these songs to you, Lord.
[00:16:27] We profess, God, that we want you more than gold or silver or anything else in all of creation.
[00:16:34] And Lord, we do.
[00:16:39] But Lord, we also recognize that sometimes we
[00:16:43] get confused sometimes we get tricked sometimes we fall into the traps of believing that the things of this world will satisfy us more and so we come to you this morning in confession laying out the ways that we've turned aside from you this week asking for your forgiveness for the ways we've done things that you've forbidden us to do the ways we failed to do the things that you require
[00:17:12] And as we come here looking to your holy name, we ask God, in the powerful name of Jesus, that you would allow our spirits to yield to you.
[00:17:26] We thank you, Father, that because his blood has cleansed us and covered us, we can come before you boldly, expecting your grace and your mercy in our time of need.
[00:17:38] And Lord, we pray that more and more your kingdom would come.
[00:17:41] That it would come in our hearts, that it would come in our community, that it would come in this world around us so that we would love the things that you love, so that your kingdom realities would break in more and more and that we would see mercy and justice and righteousness come to define this place and to define us.
[00:18:03] Lord, we also want to lift up our brothers and sisters at Trinity Forest Church in Concord today, who they're having the very first service in their new church plant.
[00:18:16] Lord, we pray for Andy and all the work that he's put in to get ready for this moment, for all the people who've gathered to be the core team for this church.
[00:18:25] And we pray, Lord, especially, God, that you would use this new ministry to reach other people for Christ.
[00:18:31] that they would have a long legacy of fruitfulness.
[00:18:34] Lord, that lives would be transformed, that people would be changed.
[00:18:39] Father, we also pray that you would meet the needs of those here in our church.
[00:18:44] We pray for the sick, Lord, that you would heal them.
[00:18:48] We pray for those who are experiencing difficulties in their family relationships, in their marriages, who are experiencing stress over finances.
[00:19:01] Other worries that keep us awake at night, Lord, we pray that you would provide for our needs.
[00:19:07] Lord, that you would heal the broken places.
[00:19:10] We pray that you would bring us your comfort and that you would deepen our faith.
[00:19:15] And we pray these things the way you taught us to pray, saying, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
[00:19:23] Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
[00:19:30] Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
[00:19:38] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
[00:19:42] For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
[00:19:48] Amen.
[00:19:49] Well, everybody, welcome again to Center Church.
[00:19:52] We are a church that is making room for everyone to experience joyful,
[00:19:57] Life transforming connection to Jesus and his people and I want you to know that means you.
[00:20:03] We're really happy that you're here and we hope you know that we're not just the church here on Sunday mornings but we are a community seven days a week and we'd love for you to get involved and connected.
[00:20:13] Inside your bulletins you should have gotten a little card right here.
[00:20:16] This is a connection card.
[00:20:18] It is a place where you can
[00:20:20] Put down any of your prayer requests.
[00:20:22] We meet every Tuesday at 9am in my office and also online if you want to join us from work or something.
[00:20:29] And we pray for every person here.
[00:20:31] So if you even just want to put your first name on here, that means we will definitely pray for you this week.
[00:20:36] And if you want to give us more information on how we can pray, we would really appreciate that.
[00:20:41] And you can throw that in the offering
[00:20:44] A few other specific announcements I want to let you all know about.
[00:20:50] The first of them is that next Sunday after the service is our annual homecoming meal.
[00:20:56] That is a covered dish lunch that we all sign up and we bring some food to share with others.
[00:21:03] This is a long-standing tradition at Center Church.
[00:21:07] In fact, a few weeks ago I sent out an email about it and I
[00:21:10] I linked to a newspaper article from over a hundred years ago about the homecoming meal that was happening at center so we we are really thankful for the the legacy and history of our church but especially this is a time for us just to be together enjoy each other's company and celebrate God's faithfulness to us throughout the year so if you want to scan that code or the code that's on your bulletin you can find out more about that you can sign up and even
[00:21:38] if you want to let us know what you're bringing that would be super helpful to the people who are planning it other things if you're new here the bathrooms are over here in this building go out the back door and walk over there and there's also a cry room for young mothers over in this building we also next Saturday are going to be participating in the walk for life and we are still signing up for that so
[00:22:04] I'm going to have a little piece of paper available for us at the door on the way out.
[00:22:09] If you want to sign up and haven't signed up yet, we're going to meet up next Saturday morning over at the Langtree Apartments and participate in this event that supports one of our local pregnancy centers that we have partnered up with.
[00:22:21] And then the last thing that you should know about, if you don't know already, on Wednesdays every week at noon, we are holding a communion service.
[00:22:29] This is a very short liturgical service.
[00:22:31] It's 30 minutes start to finish.
[00:22:33] My prayer is that this would be an opportunity especially to minister to some of these hospitals and the workplaces that are just in walking distance.
[00:22:43] We'd love for some of those workers to begin coming, but really it's designed to be a quiet, sacred space in the middle of the week to encounter the Lord, to receive His grace and mercy, and to help us in the middle of a busy and hard week.
[00:23:01] If you want more information, there's all kinds of things you can learn about printed here.
[00:23:05] And if you scan this little QR code, you can be taken to a website with all the signups and everything that you might want to know.
[00:23:12] With that said, we're going to move on here, and we're going to have a confession of faith today.
[00:23:18] In this point of the service, a lot of times we look back to some of the historical confessions, the people who've come before us, the truths that we've been handed down as a reminder that we aren't just making this stuff up as we go along, but God has been faithful to us for a long time.
[00:23:37] And I'll just read it to you because it looks like we don't have the slide, which is totally okay.
[00:23:42] We have two questions.
[00:23:43] They're from the Westminster Larger Catechism.
[00:23:46] If you don't know, the catechisms are tools that were written initially to teach people the basics of their faith.
[00:23:55] Questions and answers meant to show us what Scripture teaches.
[00:23:58] And if you go online and look at it later, you'll find all, you know, hundreds of Scripture citations to answer these questions.
[00:24:05] And there's a section in there to teach us what the Ten Commandments are.
[00:24:10] I want to look today at the second commandment.
[00:24:13] So the first question is, what is the second commandment?
[00:24:16] And there's an answer that follows.
[00:24:18] And then the second question is, what reason is added to the second commandment, emphasizing how important it is for us to obey it?
[00:24:28] Okay, so here we go.
[00:24:30] You'll have to use your listening ears to pick up on all the words that are about to come.
[00:24:36] What is the second commandment?
[00:24:39] The second commandment is, you shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
[00:24:49] You shall not bow down to them or worship them.
[00:24:54] For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.
[00:25:04] but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
[00:25:12] So that's the commandment.
[00:25:14] The second thing that we're going to ask is why is it so important that we follow this commandment?
[00:25:19] Why does God care about how we worship him?
[00:25:22] And here's the reason.
[00:25:23] It says, The reason added to the commandment to emphasize its importance is in these words.
[00:25:29] He says, For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.
[00:25:33] Punishing the children for the sins of fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
[00:25:45] In addition to calling attention to the fact that God totally rules over us and so we belong to him, these words point to his fervent eagerness to be worshiped correctly.
[00:25:57] and that he is angered and even takes vengeance on all false worship which he sees as spiritual prostitution.
[00:26:06] He views breaking this commandment as equivalent to hating him and he threatens to punish those who do break it for several generations.
[00:26:14] He also equates observing this commandment with loving him, keeping all his commandments and promises mercy for many generations for those who do it.
[00:26:25] Okay, so that's a lot.
[00:26:27] especially without being able to to really sit down and think through this but this is important especially as we're going into our study of first Samuel this morning and we look at this problem of false worship rising up in the community we're reminded that that even today God really cares how we worship that he's told us in his word the ways we should worship him and that he is delighted and glorified by them but when we come to him we come to him as our God
[00:26:54] The God that we belong to, not a God who belongs to us who we can treat in any way that we please.
[00:27:00] And so with that, we're going to collect our offering.
[00:27:04] I want to remind you, if you're visiting here, please don't feel like you have to give.
[00:27:08] We're so grateful that you're here with us.
[00:27:11] But this is a moment to worship.
[00:27:12] It's a moment to give back to God, to show, one, that our money doesn't control us, but that we're trusting Him for everything that we have, and to give back a little bit out of those first fruits of what He has given to us.
[00:27:27] And as we collect this, we're going to sing together a song

[00:27:30] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
When the music fades All is shaped away And I simply come
[00:27:56] Longing just to bring Something that's of worth That will bless your heart I'll bring you more than a song For a song in itself Is not what you have required You've searched much deeper within
[00:28:27] I'm coming back to the heart of worship When it's all about you It's all about you, Jesus I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I've made it When it's all about you
[00:28:56] It's all about you Jesus Keep of endless worth No one could express How much you deserve Though I'm weak and poor All I have is yours
[00:29:24] Every single prayer I'll bring you more than a song For a song in itself is not what you have required You search much deeper within Through the way things appear
[00:29:57] I'm coming back to the heart of worship And it's all about you It's all about you Jesus I'm sorry Lord for the things I've made And it's all about you It's all about you Jesus I'm coming back to
[00:30:24] Heart of Worship And it's all about You It's all about You, Jesus I'm sorry, Lord, for the things I've made And it's all about You It's all about You, Jesus It's all about You
[00:30:52] So tell you Jesus.

[00:30:59] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Well, I want to invite you all now to rise and greet your neighbors and pass the peace of Christ.
[00:31:04] And as you do, children, you are dismissed for Kids Church, and you can head out this door with your leaders.

[00:31:22] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Let's pray.
[00:31:45] Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy

[00:32:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
You will stand with me and join me as we sing the doxology.
[00:32:20] Praise God from all

[00:32:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Praise Him all creatures here below.
[00:32:41] Praise Him above ye earthly hosts.

[00:32:46] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
[00:32:55] Amen.

[00:32:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Our scripture reading today comes from 1 Samuel.
[00:33:02] We're going to read selections from 1 Samuel chapter 4-1 through 7-2.
[00:33:09] It says, Now the Israelites went out to fight against the Philistines.
[00:33:17] And as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about 4,000 of them on the battlefield.
[00:33:26] When the soldiers returned to the camp, the elders of Israel asked, Why did the Lord bring defeat on us today before the Philistines?
[00:33:34] Let us bring the ark of the Lord's covenant from Shiloh, so that he may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies.
[00:33:43] So the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
[00:33:50] And when the ark of the Lord's covenant came into the camp, all Israel raised such a shout that the ground shook.
[00:34:04] Hearing the uproar, the Philistines asked, What's all this shouting in the Hebrew camp?
[00:34:09] And when they learned that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp, the Philistines were afraid.
[00:34:14] A God has come into the camp.
[00:34:16] They said, oh no, nothing like this has happened before.
[00:34:18] We're doomed.
[00:34:19] Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods?
[00:34:23] They are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.
[00:34:27] Be strong, Philistines, be men, or you will be subject to the Hebrews as they have been to you.
[00:34:33] Be men and fight.
[00:34:35] So the Philistines fought and the Israelites were defeated.
[00:34:39] And every man fled to his tent.
[00:34:41] The slaughter was very great.
[00:34:43] Israel lost 30,000 foot soldiers.
[00:34:46] The ark of God was captured, and Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.
[00:34:52] That day a Benjamite ran from the battle line and went to Shiloh with his clothes torn and the dust on his head.
[00:34:57] And when he arrived, there was Eli sitting on his chair by the side of the road, watching, because his heart feared for the ark of God.
[00:35:05] When the man entered the town and told him what had happened,
[00:35:08] The whole town sent up a cry.
[00:35:10] The man hurried over to Eli, who was ninety-eight years old, and whose eyes had failed so that he could not see.
[00:35:16] Eli, he asked, what happened, my son?
[00:35:22] And the man that brought the news replied, Israel fled before the Philistines, and the army has suffered great losses.
[00:35:28] Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured.
[00:35:33] When he mentioned that the ark of God had been captured, Eli fell backward off his chair by the side of the gate.
[00:35:40] His neck was broken, and he died, for he was an old man, and he was heavy.
[00:35:44] He had led Israel forty years.
[00:35:47] After the Philistines captured the ark of God, they took it to Ashdod.
[00:35:53] Then they carried the ark to Dagon's temple and set it beside Dagon.
[00:35:57] When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord.
[00:36:06] They took Dagon and put him back in his place.
[00:36:08] But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord.
[00:36:14] His hand and his head had been broken off, and they were lying on the threshold.
[00:36:20] Only his body remained.
[00:36:23] That is why, to this day, neither the priests of Dagon nor any others enter Dagon's temple of Ashdod, Steplum Threshold.
[00:36:31] The Lord's hand was heavy on the people of Ashdod and its vicinity.
[00:36:34] He brought devastation on them and afflicted them with tumors.
[00:36:39] So they moved the Ark of God to Gath.
[00:36:43] But after they had moved it, the Lord's hand was heavy on that city, throwing it into great panic.
[00:36:48] He afflicted the people of the city, both young and old, with an outbreak of tumors.
[00:36:53] So they sent the ark of God to Ekron.
[00:36:56] And the ark of God, as it was entering Ekron, the people cried out, Send the ark of God of Israel away.
[00:37:02] Let it go to its own place, or it will kill us and our people.
[00:37:06] So they did this.
[00:37:08] They took two cows, hitched them to the cart, and penned up their calves.
[00:37:14] They placed the ark of the Lord on the cart and along with it a chest containing a guilt offering of gold, rats, and models of the tumors they had suffered.
[00:37:24] Then the cows went straight towards Beth Shemesh, keeping on the road and following it all the way.
[00:37:29] They did not turn to the right or to the left.
[00:37:33] Now the people of Beth Shemesh, when they looked up and they saw the ark, they rejoiced at the sight.
[00:37:39] The Levites took down the ark of the Lord, and together with the chests containing the gold objects, they placed them on a large rock.
[00:37:46] And on that day the people offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the Lord.
[00:37:51] But God struck down some of the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy of them to death, because they looked into the ark of the Lord.
[00:37:59] The people mourned because of the heavy blow the Lord had dealt them.
[00:38:05] And the people of Beth Shemesh asked, Who can stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy God?
[00:38:12] To whom will the ark go up from here?
[00:38:13] And then the men of Kiriath-Jerim came and took the ark of the Lord, and the ark remained in Kiriath-Jerim a long time, twenty years in all.
[00:38:24] This is the word of the Lord.
[00:38:27] Thanks be to God.
[00:38:27] You can be seated.
[00:38:32] All right, well, I think that we all know just because a person goes to church, it doesn't necessarily mean that they're a Christian, right?
[00:38:43] And we probably all know that it is entirely possible for someone to know all the words to the Lord's Prayer or be able to sing Amazing Grace, but to not have any idea who God is when they say those words.
[00:38:59] And that is kind of the issue that we are tackling today as we look at this passage.
[00:39:04] It is a passage that tells us about who God is and what it means to worship him.
[00:39:12] And as we walk through the events of this narrative, right, we have three long chapters to get through.
[00:39:16] As we walk through this, we're going to see that each one of us desperately needs to encounter the living God in true worship.
[00:39:27] Each one of us, we desperately need
[00:39:29] To encounter the God in true worship.
[00:39:31] And like I said, we've got a lot of ground to cover here.
[00:39:34] So as we do, I'm going to break this up under three headings.
[00:39:38] The first one of them is that there are counterfeit versions of worship.
[00:39:45] There are counterfeit versions of worship.
[00:39:48] Secondly, that all worship shapes us.
[00:39:53] And then thirdly, that the only remedy
[00:39:57] For the way that we've been shaped is a vision of God's holiness and grace.
[00:40:02] Okay, so there are counterfeit versions of worship.
[00:40:06] At the very beginning of the story, it starts with a good question.
[00:40:12] It starts off where Israel goes out into this battle, a battle that they started with the Philistines, and they lose.
[00:40:18] And when they lose, the leaders ask, why did the Lord bring defeat on us today?
[00:40:25] So immediately we realize they saw that their loss had something to do with God and they wondered if God had a message for them in this loss.
[00:40:36] But instead of taking time to think about those questions, to prayerfully consider it before the Lord what it might mean, well, they just come up with their own solution.
[00:40:45] They decide to go and get the Ark of the Covenant and to bring it into battle with them.
[00:40:50] Now, in case any of you are too young to have seen
[00:40:55] The good Indiana Jones movies.
[00:40:58] This is the Ark of the Covenant.
[00:41:00] This is the most sacred object in ancient Israel.
[00:41:06] The Ark of the Covenant was a gold-covered, portable box.
[00:41:10] It was about three and a half feet wide, about two and a half feet tall.
[00:41:17] It was a box that, unless Israel was traveling through the wilderness, its resting place was behind a thick veil in the center of their worship in an area called the Holy of Holies.
[00:41:32] It was in the most holy place.
[00:41:36] Now you see on this that the lid of the ark it had two cherubim that were kind of bowing and touching their wings it was signifying these angels were signifying God's holiness and then that lid that they were sitting on top of was called the mercy seat because once a year priests would sprinkle blood on top of the lid to atone for the sins of the people of Israel and
[00:42:01] Inside of this box, you might remember, was the Ten Commandments and a few other sacred artifacts from Israel's history as they were coming out of Egypt and out of slavery.
[00:42:14] This Ark was in the Holy of Holies.
[00:42:16] It was in the holy place, but it was not worshipped.
[00:42:19] People did not worship the Ark.
[00:42:21] The Ark was a sign of God's presence.
[00:42:25] It was pointing them to the fact that Yahweh, the living God, was with them, that he ruled over them, that he spoke to them, right?
[00:42:34] His words are contained in it, that he led them.
[00:42:38] And of course, with the mercy seat, it was a reminder of his forgiveness.
[00:42:43] And so, in our story,
[00:42:47] In this moment, Israel decided that if they brought this ark and their most important priests into the battle for round two, well, then God, he'd be present with them.
[00:43:01] He'd have to be present with them, and they would surely win whatever battle they went into.
[00:43:07] And here's what happened.
[00:43:08] It said the people brought, they sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back the ark of the covenant of the Lord Almighty, who was enthroned between the cherubim
[00:43:17] and Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas.
[00:43:20] They were there with the Ark of the Covenant of God and they were promptly defeated.
[00:43:28] In fact, they lost exponentially more people than they lost the first time.
[00:43:34] Not only that, but the priests that came were killed and worst of all, the Ark itself was captured by these enemy Philistines.
[00:43:44] And then we also read, right, Eli, the elderly priest who had stayed back when he finds out what's happened.
[00:43:50] He falls over backwards and he breaks his neck and he dies.
[00:43:53] And then in one of the verses we didn't get a chance to read over, we also see Phineas' wife, the priest's wife, when she finds out about this story, she's in the midst of childbirth and she dies.
[00:44:05] And her final words as she dies are this, "'The glory has departed from Israel.'"
[00:44:12] For the ark of God has been captured.
[00:44:17] The picture that's being painted is unthinkable disaster.
[00:44:23] The author wants us to understand that this is way worse than just being defeated in battle.
[00:44:30] This is not simply that the Philistines have gained the upper hand.
[00:44:34] This defeat
[00:44:36] which came along with the death of the priests, the fall of Eli's house, the loss of the ark.
[00:44:42] This is God's judgment.
[00:44:46] This is God judging the people.
[00:44:51] But why?
[00:44:53] What's the problem?
[00:44:53] What is going on here?
[00:44:55] What could possibly have warranted such a strong response from God?
[00:45:03] Well, if you were here last week, you remember we read about some of the things that were going on in the temple at this time, right?
[00:45:10] We learned about how Eli's sons, Hophni and Phinehas, had turned God's worship in Shiloh into a mockery.
[00:45:21] They were living immoral lives.
[00:45:23] They were sleeping with the women who served outside the temple.
[00:45:27] They were disregarding God's laws about the sacrifices.
[00:45:31] They were stealing the offerings from people as they came in and taking them away from God entirely.
[00:45:37] And the next couple of chapters, they take us on this wild journey.
[00:45:44] But every step of the way,
[00:45:47] The message that is abundantly clear is that God is in control of this story.
[00:45:53] That he is the one orchestrating the things that happen.
[00:45:56] That there is a living God behind it all, and he is awesome, and he is holy, and he is in charge, and he demands our worship.
[00:46:06] But right here, at this point, at the very beginning of the story, the whole nation of Israel seems to have forgotten that.
[00:46:15] That's where this judgment comes from.
[00:46:17] It's not just that the priests are off base, but we start to realize the impact of all of these years of their leadership has transformed the way they worship.
[00:46:30] They seem to have forgotten who God is, and instead they're bringing the ark around like it's a good luck charm, like it's an object that is going to magically bring them victory in a fight.
[00:46:45] I recently was watching a YouTube video and I learned about this guy.
[00:46:49] He's not famous, but his name is David Phillips.
[00:46:53] And this guy in the 90s at some point, he found out that Healthy Choice, you guys know that brand?
[00:46:59] Is that still a thing?
[00:47:01] Healthy Choice, they had pudding cups and they were doing a promotion with frequent flyer miles.
[00:47:09] and this guy did the math and he figured out that the value of the frequent flyer coupon on the lid was so much more valuable than the pudding cups themselves that he came up with a plan and he went all around town all around the areas that he could reach and he collected 12 000 pudding cups he collected so many that when he peeled off the lids and he cashed them in he ended up
[00:47:35] becoming a lifetime platinum status member at American Airlines.
[00:47:40] He was given the equivalent of 30 free flights around the globe.
[00:47:48] And what I thought was really interesting as I was learning this story was to everyone in town, David became known as the pudding guy.
[00:47:59] right because he would show up in your town and he would take all the pudding from the grocery store or he would show up at the gas station and he would buy up all the pudding people didn't know what was going on so they're like man i don't know who this guy is but but he likes pudding of course what they didn't know was he actually just kept the lids and he donated the pudding to to some other causes what he really wanted was those flyer miles right the the pudding for him
[00:48:25] was just a means to an end.
[00:48:27] He was really the platinum status guy.
[00:48:32] I bring that up because if you look at it through a certain lens, you start to realize that is exactly how Israel had been dealing with God.
[00:48:43] They were using God as a means to an end.
[00:48:48] He was the tool to get them what they really wanted.
[00:48:54] And so by carrying this ark around, they were acting as if God belonged to them and not the other way around.
[00:49:06] They claimed that they were the people of God.
[00:49:08] They claimed that they worshiped Yahweh.
[00:49:10] But their worship, in honesty, it was counterfeit worship.
[00:49:15] It was something else pretending to be worship.
[00:49:19] It was the pursuit of military conquest, the pursuit of power, and God was nothing more than a tool to accomplish that.
[00:49:30] And so I want us to pause here and just think about this scene.
[00:49:34] As we look at this moment in history, we need to realize this is something where we need to look at our own hearts as well.
[00:49:43] The reason this is in here in Scripture is for us to reflect, for us to even ask ourselves,
[00:49:49] What's at the center of our worship?
[00:49:53] When I come here, or when I read the Word, when I fast, when I pray, is it because I want God?
[00:50:04] Is it because He is the one I'm pursuing, or is it because I believe God is the way to get the thing I really want?
[00:50:15] It could be wealth, money, a relationship,
[00:50:19] Health, power, it could be a million things.
[00:50:22] But the question is, are we truly worshiping God for who he is, or is he just something that we're using to get what we want?
[00:50:33] Are we genuinely worshiping with our hearts, or is that just what it looks like on the outside?
[00:50:41] Is God himself our reward, or is he just the pudding cup?
[00:50:48] So that's what I mean when I say that there is such a thing as counterfeit worship.
[00:50:55] But secondly, we need to understand that counterfeit worship is a major problem.
[00:51:00] And the reason it's such a problem is because all worship shapes us.
[00:51:06] All worship shapes us.
[00:51:07] Okay, so we've got this battle scene.
[00:51:10] People are treating Yahweh the same way all the pagan nations would have treated their little deities.
[00:51:17] He's no more than an object that they can carry around who they expect will do their bidding.
[00:51:26] And so God shows them just how foolish that is.
[00:51:31] The Philistines, when they win their victory, we read about how they took the Ark and they go and they place it
[00:51:39] Inside the temple of this god, Dagon.
[00:51:43] Dagon, he was the national god of the Philistines.
[00:51:48] And it's not a coincidence that this is where the arc goes.
[00:51:52] This is actually a really helpful thing for us to understand because in this moment, what's going on is these Israelites are really treating Israel as if he is nothing more than the Hebrew version of Dagon.
[00:52:08] He's just another one of those national deities.
[00:52:13] He's one among hundreds, one among thousands.
[00:52:16] And so now that the Philistines win, well, the Israelite God goes into the temple next to, beneath, the Philistine God.
[00:52:27] And the Philistines, they learn pretty fast, that's not who God is.
[00:52:33] Not only
[00:52:33] Do we have that story where God breaks the statue of Dagon?
[00:52:37] He falls down, his hands break off, his head falls off.
[00:52:42] But then, when he leaves, that town begins to suffer, and then he travels, the ark travels all around the nation, and in the process, it wreaks havoc every place that it goes.
[00:52:58] Can you see what's going on right?
[00:52:59] The Israelites, they couldn't even win one battle.
[00:53:04] But God, on his own, without anybody's help, has no problem defeating the Philistines single-handedly.
[00:53:11] God has no issue conquering all of their towns and defeating them.
[00:53:15] First in Ashdod, then in Gath, then in Ekron.
[00:53:20] And it gets to the point where these Philistines are so terrified of the Ark that they're just like, get it out of here.
[00:53:26] We don't want it anymore.
[00:53:28] Send it back where it came from.
[00:53:30] It belongs with the people of Israel.
[00:53:31] Take it there.
[00:53:35] What a contrast, right?
[00:53:38] You imagine that picture between this lifeless statue laying on the ground, no hands, no head, and then the power of this living God that no one can contain, no one can control, no one can predict.
[00:53:56] And the message here is pretty clear.
[00:54:00] God will not tolerate false worship.
[00:54:05] God will not allow his people to treat him like the rest of the world's idols.
[00:54:14] God won't tolerate false worship.
[00:54:17] But even now, maybe you're thinking, is that really so serious?
[00:54:23] What's the big deal if our worship looks a little bit like the worship of the world?
[00:54:30] Why does God care?
[00:54:33] For that answer, I want to actually just point you back to something we've already said in this service, our call to worship.
[00:54:39] We read together, you might remember, Psalm 135.
[00:54:42] We all said this together out loud.
[00:54:44] It said, The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by human hands.
[00:54:51] They have mouths but cannot speak, eyes but cannot see, they have ears but cannot hear, nor is there breath in their mouths, and those who make them will be like them.
[00:55:03] and so all who trust in them.
[00:55:06] Those who make them will be like them.
[00:55:10] Now, we talk about these carved idols and I know there are still parts of the world, there are even still cultures around us that may still literally worship these carved idols, but the false god of our nation, the false gods in our nation are a little more abstract than that, right?
[00:55:30] The false gods
[00:55:31] of our nation tend to be things like success, materialism, fame and celebrity and power and consumption and pleasure.
[00:55:42] And if you look around at the church today, at the Christian church today, you'll find that very often the ways that we worship God look shockingly similar to the ways those idols get worshiped.
[00:56:00] You'll see there's a lot of influence.
[00:56:04] A lot of the ways we worship inside the church looks like the way the world around us worships their idols.
[00:56:13] In other words, we Christians, we commit the same sins that Israel was committing in this passage.
[00:56:20] When our worship mimics the celebrity worship of our culture.
[00:56:27] When we're filled by that same pursuit of
[00:56:30] Materialism and consuming when our church follows the patterns of the world around us.
[00:56:40] And it's hard to kind of talk about this in the abstract.
[00:56:46] I want to be careful that you don't misunderstand me.
[00:56:48] I actually think the culture does have a role to play
[00:56:53] We don't want to be completely detached from our culture.
[00:56:57] In every age, when God calls us to preach the gospel, he calls us to contextualize the gospel, to do things to incorporate our culture so people can understand his truth and see that it is still relevant in our lives today, that he is still the answer to today's problems, just like he was thousands of years ago.
[00:57:17] And so, we do things to incorporate our culture.
[00:57:21] The whole goal of contextualizing is for people to be able to understand God more easily, and that's good.
[00:57:49] Contextualizing the gospel is good, but
[00:57:52] The other side of that, what you might call cultural conformity, is when we so bend our worship to the culture that we leave behind God altogether.
[00:58:06] We go beyond contextualizing to the point that we are conforming, where we reach that point where what we claim to do is worship God, but what we're actually worshiping is power.
[00:58:21] or wealth or comfort or pleasure, and we're just dressing them up to look like Jesus.
[00:58:29] And the Psalm we read, it says, worship shapes us.
[00:58:34] All worship shapes us.
[00:58:35] We take on the values of the things that we value most.
[00:58:41] We start to look like, we start to mimic the things that our hearts are fixed on.
[00:58:48] I was talking with somebody at Presbytery this past weekend that's where all the local pastors get together and we just had it Friday and Saturday and somebody there was saying that you know in the world successful equals he says big equals successful more equals better popularity equals respectability and and you know I
[00:59:15] I agree with him.
[00:59:16] He's right.
[00:59:18] That is the way things go in the world.
[00:59:20] But in the kingdom, it's the least and the last who are often the ones nearest to the Lord's heart.
[00:59:30] You remember maybe in Luke, there's that famous story where Jesus, it says he looks up and he sees the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury.
[00:59:41] And then he saw a poor widow who put two very small copper coins in, and he said, Truly I tell you, the poor widow has put in more than all the others.
[00:59:52] All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth, but she, out of her poverty, put in all that she had to live on.
[01:00:01] See, I see a story like that, and then I think about some of the crazy stuff I have seen churches doing over these past 20 years that I've been in ministry, right?
[01:00:11] I think about some of these churches where you read on Easter, they're doing raffles and giving out iPads or even cars, you know?
[01:00:20] And you think, well, maybe, you know, that makes sense in our culture.
[01:00:23] Maybe you hear that and you say, well, I bet you that puts people in the seats.
[01:00:29] And perhaps it does.
[01:00:31] But what's the message behind that?
[01:00:34] Is it not something like, come to church, and if you're lucky, you might get something you really want, right?
[01:00:43] Come to church and endure the sermon that you're gonna hear and all that, but if you're lucky, you might leave here with a car.
[01:00:50] You might leave here with a new iPad.
[01:00:53] See, when we come to God that way, when we come to God only in order to get something else,
[01:01:01] It shapes us.
[01:01:04] It turns us into a people who are like our idols.
[01:01:08] Empty, lifeless, powerless.
[01:01:13] It makes us a people who are fearful of losing what we have, anxious about getting the things that we don't, fearful about the future, maybe abusive towards others as we try to gain more.
[01:01:30] But we become like the gods we worship, lifeless, destructive, enslaved.
[01:01:39] On the other hand, when we see this parable, we're reminded that true worship always begins with total surrender.
[01:01:49] True worship begins with complete submission, right?
[01:01:53] The widow who gave everything that she had, which wasn't much, but she gave everything because she knew God was all that she needed.
[01:02:02] True worship, it begins when we come to God, not because He can give us something else, but because He's our Creator.
[01:02:12] And He's the only one that can satisfy those deep desires in our hearts.
[01:02:19] And as I'm giving these illustrations, as I'm talking about things that other churches do, I think we need to be reminded that every time God in His Word, He's speaking to us.
[01:02:31] We need to be careful that we're not just sitting here in our old historic church building with our definitely not famous pastor and feeling very good about ourselves.
[01:02:45] Pointing our fingers at all those bad Christians out over there.
[01:02:47] No, we need to recognize that this is the moment when we should search our own hearts.
[01:02:53] Where we need to ask, what is it that is really shaping me?
[01:02:59] If you're a Christian here, you really need to ask, what does my life look like?
[01:03:04] What is the state of my heart genuinely before the Lord?
[01:03:09] What am I turning into?
[01:03:10] Do people see me becoming more like Jesus?
[01:03:14] More filled with peace, more dependent upon him daily by faith?
[01:03:19] Or does my life just look like everyone else's life that's in the rat race?
[01:03:25] Am I just living the same way everyone else is living with a little bit of Jesus sprinkled on top from time to time?
[01:03:34] All of our worship shapes us.
[01:03:37] And the only remedy for false worship, the only remedy for our counterfeit worship is a vision of God's holiness and of His grace.
[01:03:48] So let's, again, let's look back at the story, right?
[01:03:51] You might have noticed this is not the Hollywood ending here.
[01:03:54] It's not Avengers, right?
[01:03:56] Where, you know, at the end of Endgame, those circles open up and right when it seems like everything's lost and everybody's defeated, all the fallen heroes charge back in and finally, oh hey, the good guys win!
[01:04:07] End of movie.
[01:04:10] Now, it kind of starts off like that, right?
[01:04:12] When the ark first comes over the hill, it says that the people of Beth Shemesh, they're out there and they're harvesting their wheat in the valley and they look up and they see the ark and they rejoice at the sight of it.
[01:04:26] They celebrate.
[01:04:27] They have a big sacrifice.
[01:04:31] And if this were the Hollywood version, this would be the end.
[01:04:34] This is where the credits would roll, right?
[01:04:36] The ark is back.
[01:04:37] Everybody's happy.
[01:04:38] The good guys win.
[01:04:41] But a few verses later,
[01:04:42] This is what happens.
[01:04:44] It says God struck down some of the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, putting 70 of them to death because they looked into the ark.
[01:04:54] The people mourned because of the heavy blow the Lord had dealt them, and the people of Beth Shemesh asked, Who can stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy God?
[01:05:05] To whom will the ark go up from here?
[01:05:09] And honestly, this is the proper conclusion to this story.
[01:05:15] After that first battle, the people said, why did God let us lose?
[01:05:20] And then they brought the ark in like a trinket, thinking they could control their little national god and make him do what they wanted.
[01:05:27] But here they come to the real conclusion.
[01:05:30] Here they get the answer to their question.
[01:05:33] God let them lose because they didn't know who he was.
[01:05:39] God let them lose because they didn't know him at all.
[01:05:43] God let them lose because they were worshiping in his name but they did not know what it meant to worship a living God.
[01:05:53] The one who created the world from nothing and who made us to glorify him and to enjoy him forever.
[01:06:03] The God who is the very definition of righteousness and goodness, the one who no human being can ever look upon and expect to live, let alone stand in front of.
[01:06:18] And not just the Philistines, but the Israelites as well, needed to learn the power of this living God.
[01:06:29] See, this last little scene,
[01:06:32] It reminds us that even though God had declared himself to be the God of Israel, he needed them to know that he was not bound by any political boundaries, any national boundaries, any cultural boundaries, but that he was the one true living God, the God over all the earth.
[01:06:59] And as a result of this,
[01:07:01] Last moment, this harsh moment of judgment, the people finally learn.
[01:07:11] They stop carrying the ark of God like it's a talisman.
[01:07:14] They start treating him the way the other nations treat their idols and instead they repent and they worship God with fear and the reverence that he deserves.
[01:07:32] And I know that's a little scary, right?
[01:07:34] It's a little bit shocking to our modern ears to hear a story that goes like that, but I think even because it seems so severe, we might be missing out on something important here, that in the midst of this final act of judgment, where God's awesome holiness is being put on display, that right alongside of that
[01:07:58] is actually this tremendous outpouring of God's grace.
[01:08:05] Think about it this way.
[01:08:06] Why did the ark come back at all?
[01:08:10] It would have been totally understandable if God had just let those cows march right into the ocean, right?
[01:08:17] Like, I'm done with these people.
[01:08:18] What more do I need to do for them?
[01:08:22] It would have been understandable
[01:08:26] Shortly after the fall, God had turned his back on the world that has at every turn constantly rejected his leadership and turned to destroy each other.
[01:08:42] But here, God, he returns to the people
[01:08:49] Because in His holiness, before the foundation of the world, Scripture told us that He was committed to redeem and rescue a people for Himself.
[01:08:58] And He promised that even if those people were unfaithful, He would remain faithful to them at all costs.
[01:09:09] Scripture tells us that in His mercy and love, God determined that He was going to rescue a people who did not deserve it.
[01:09:19] These people didn't deserve it.
[01:09:23] And you know, this story is really just one example of the same story that keeps playing out even today.
[01:09:31] It's the story of a good God who saves sinners who don't deserve it.
[01:09:37] Who saves sinners not based on their excellence,
[01:09:41] And in this last moment, as these 70 people are lying dead, judged because they have rejected the holiness of God, judged for their refusal to learn the lesson that even the pagan Philistines had already learned, that God was God and that they were not God.
[01:10:11] Well, we see the rest of these people surrendering.
[01:10:16] The rest of these people, they found out that God was holy, but that he was also a God of mercy, that he was also a God of grace.
[01:10:28] In that moment, as they offered that sacrifice, God forgave the sins of the people of Israel for what they had done.
[01:10:35] They were forgiven in that moment, but you have to understand forgiveness is not free.
[01:10:42] Holy God, if he really is holy, he couldn't just excuse the bad things they'd done.
[01:10:47] He couldn't just pretend like none of that had ever happened.
[01:10:51] And so they offer this sacrifice.
[01:10:54] And that sacrifice, like all of the other sacrifices in the Old Testament, they were pointing us toward this day to come when God would sacrifice himself.
[01:11:08] When God on the cross would take all of their guilt and our guilt upon himself, it pointed us to that moment when Jesus himself was struck dead so that we could come to him by faith and live.
[01:11:27] The cross is the ultimate version of this moment.
[01:11:30] It's the place where God's holiness and his grace meet together and they are on full display even right now for us today.
[01:11:39] And so as I close I just want to say today we are invited just like these Israelites were invited that day to see God anew.
[01:11:50] To realize that one there is a God and that he is holy and that we belong to him and that he demands our surrender.
[01:12:02] And when we come to him in faith and when we lay down all these lifeless idols and when we give up our false worship well
[01:12:10] In the same way all that false worship has shaped us, our true worship will shape us.
[01:12:15] And we'll become like him.
[01:12:17] Increasingly righteous, increasingly just, increasingly merciful, increasingly good, increasingly alive.
[01:12:28] I want to invite you to pray with me today.
[01:12:35] Lord, it's hard to examine our own hearts sometimes, to see what you see.
[01:12:40] Psalmist pray, search me, O God, and know my heart, because often we don't know ourselves.
[01:12:49] But in this moment, Lord, I pray that you might open our eyes to see whether we are truly alive in you or whether we've let something else get in the way.
[01:12:59] I pray, Lord, that you would let us see whether in our worship we are actually seeking something else and missing out on your life.
[01:13:10] Lord, I pray today you'd lead us to repentance and faith, and I pray for any of those who may not know you at all, Lord, that they would see that even now, you're coming over that hill.
[01:13:24] Like the father with the prodigal son, Lord, you still pursue sinners in your grace and mercy.
[01:13:34] Lord, I pray that we would come.
[01:13:36] In Jesus' name, amen.

[01:13:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
Let's stand and sing this last song In Christ alone my hope is found
[01:14:04] He is my light, my strength, my song This cornerstone, this solid ground Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
[01:14:21] What heights of love, what depths of peace When fears are still, when strivings cease My comforter, my all in all Here in the love of Christ I stand
[01:14:47] In Christ alone, who took on flesh, fullness of God in helpless babe
[01:14:59] The gift of love and righteousness Scorned by the ones He came to save Till on that cross as Jesus died The wrath of God was satisfied For every sin on Him was laid
[01:15:27] Here in the death of Christ I live There in the ground His body lay
[01:15:41] Light of the world by darkness slain Then bursting forth in glorious day Up from the grave He rose again And as He stands in victory
[01:16:03] His curse has lost its grip on me For I am His and He is mine Bought with the precious blood of Christ
[01:16:22] No guilt in life, no fear in death This is the power of Christ in me From life's first cry to final breath Jesus commands my destiny
[01:16:44] No power of hell, no scheme of man Can ever pluck me from His hand Till He returns and calls me home Here in the power of Christ I'll stand No power of hell, no scheme of man
[01:17:12] Can ever clock me from His hand Till He returns or calls me home Here in the power of Christ I'll stand He returns or calls me home Here in the power of Christ I'll stand

[01:17:44] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Hear now this benediction from the Lord.
[01:17:46] May the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good, that you may do his will, working in us what is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, be honor and glory forever.
[01:18:06] Amen.
[01:18:07] Go in peace.