Worship Before the Temple
Genesis 12:1-7
Introduction
Everything gets more complex over time. Even though technology improves and there are important advances, the fact is that things get more complicated. We often hear people talk fondly about the good old days. The truth is that the good old days were not necessarily better than today. But they were likely simpler than what we experience today. From time to time we find people longing for that simplicity and attempting to turn back the clock to get back to our origins. This is true for worship as well. We have two thousand years of Christian tradition with regard to worship. Many things have changed, things added and things taken away. Before that we had the Jewish Temple with all of its sacrifices and feasts and rituals. But there was a time before that when worship was very simple, a time before rituals and traditions. That is not to say that we should forget about all that we have learned from the worship of Israel and the worship of the church. Those things are important. But by taking a look at the early days of worship, we have an opportunity to get a fresh glimpse of what is really important. We are going to take a look at an early worship experience. There was no Jerusalem Temple to offer an elaborate sacrifice. In fact the Israelites did not even possess Jerusalem, mostly because at this time there were no Israelites. All we have is a man named Abram and his family, making a journey to what we know as the Promised Land. Let us see how things work out.
God’s Initiation
How does worship start? Well, we decide that we want to come to church. We decide that we will leave our homes and travel to this building. We come in and participate in this worship service. We choose to sing and pray and read. Worship is simply our decision to give God something. Or is that all there is? What if there were no denominations such as Baptists? What if there were no formal religious organizations or church buildings? Would we naturally know that we were to worship God in some way? I am not sure we would if it was left completely up to us. Let us look to Abram as our example. Abram was originally from the land of Ur and eventually settled in the city of Haran. In all of these places, there would have been many idols as well as a focus on astrology. There is no reason that Abram would wake up and start worshipping the one true God, the Creator of the Universe. No reason, unless God initiated it himself. Abram’s father had been called to go to the Promised Land but got distracted in Haran and decided to abandon the journey. God spoke to Abram and called him to finish what his father had started. Abram must have believed that some thing special took place as he began this journey at the age of seventy-five. This led Abram to a worship experience with God, but only after God started the process. Why do we worship? God has started something that led us to this place, to worship him now. What has God done? God has revealed himself in Jesus Christ. God is not just some strange force out there, he has made himself known in Jesus. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, we have been invited into a real and intimate relationship with God. This was God’s initiation. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8 NIV) God has also given us the Bible. Through the Old and New Testaments, we have many examples of people before us who worshipped. Without the Bible, we would know almost nothing of God or the worship that is due him. God has also started something in our lives. You may have become a Christian as a child or as an adult. It may have been through Sunday school, camp, conversations with friends or private reflection on the Bible. However it happened, God did something in your life. You experienced God for a first time, and unless God had done something then, you would never have wanted to worship him. So when you come to church to worship, remember this is not just about you. God has started something that has brought you to this place.
Thankfulness
So God revealed himself to Abram in some way. However, this was not just “Hey Abram, I am God and I exist.” The mere existence of God does not lead to worship. We are told in Hebrews “anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6 NIV) What this means is that we worship a God who not only exists but who demonstrates his love to us in tangible ways. What did this look like for Abram? Abram is sent to the Promised Land. But Abram received much more than just permission to visit a new place. Abram was promised that this land would belong to his offspring. That would be nice by itself to know that a certain land would be a permanent place of settlement for your descendants. But the fact that Abram and Sarai had no children, Sarai was barren and both were old, made this promise all the more amazing. In order for God to give this land to Abram’s offspring, God was going to have to give Abram some offspring. Imagine the joy that must have filled Abram’s heart. Why do we worship? I remember talking with a friend just as I was coming out of a period of atheism. I was prepared to believe in God but not prepared to be a Christian. My problem was worship. It seemed like the church was asking us to encourage God in his low self-esteem that he really was pretty good. It just did not make sense to me. Now I understand worship in the context of thankfulness. When we come to worship, it is a fair question to ask: What has God ever done for us? What has God done? He has created this beautiful world. He has given us life so we can enjoy it. He has revealed himself to us. He has sent Jesus to die for our sins. He forgives our sins. He gives us eternal life. Plus we have all the answered prayers and daily demonstrations of his love. It is worth taking the time and effort to work on the spiritual discipline of thankfulness. I try to take a moment to thank God every time something good happens. It could be anything from finding my lost keys to getting a good parking spot to having a fun day with my family. The more we embrace thankfulness toward God, the better prepared we are to worship God.
Presence
Our passage says that Abram built an altar to the God who had appeared to him. We do not fully understand how God appeared to Abram. We know that God could not have appeared to Abram in his full glory without killing Abram. Only Moses and Elijah caught glimpses of just a part of God. Sometimes God revealed himself through the angel of the Lord who seemed to be an angel that somehow represented God’s presence. God appeared as a burning bush to Moses. Other times God revealed himself in a dark cloud. The form is not what is important. What is important is that Abram had an experience of God’s presence and this drew him into worship. This is motivation to worship but it should also be an expectation of worship. What is it that we want when we come to church and worship God? We may want to see our friends and even sing some of our favorite hymns. But we should want more. We should want God to appear to us. Moses understood this. “The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” (Exodus 33:14–16 NIV) Do you see how desperate Moses is for God’s presence and that it is God’s presence that distinguishes God’s people. Jesus taught “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18:20 NIV) We come here not just to perform rituals and to feel comfortable that we are doing what our parents and grand parents did. We worship so that we might experience God. How do we experience God? We experience God when you have a fresh sense of God’s goodness, mercy and holiness. When a hymn becomes more than a song and becomes the cry of your heart. When you pray and you do not feel like you are speaking to air but know that the King of the Universe is listening. That is what we must seek in worship.
Conclusion
As followers of Jesus, one of the most important things we do is to worship God. What does that look like? It is helpful to look to Abram, one of the earliest examples that we are given any detail about. We are not looking to copy Abram but rather to understand the principles behind his worship. Abram’s worship was initiated by God and not by Abram. God took the first step and Abram responded. Abram’s worship was an act of thankfulness based on the promise given to Abram. Abram’s worship was also closely tied to the presence of God, as he worshipped the God who appeared to him. We need that kind of worship, even if the outward form looks very different. God continues to initiate worship by reaching out to us before we can ever reach out to him. We have tremendous reasons to be thankful and that should drive us toward worship. Finally, we seek God’s presence in worship. We desire not ritual but relationship, relationship with a God that desires to be with us. May our worship be a dress rehearsal for the promise found in Revelation: “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.” (Revelation 21:3 NIV)
