Worshiping On Sunday Mornings (Hebrews 10:19-25)
[Read Hebrews 10:19-25]
This series we’ve been working our way through a statement that gives our church a centering point—gives us a purpose. We are a church that is Worshiping the Triune God IN community, AS a community, FOR the community. One of the points that I’ve made repeatedly throughout this series is that all of life is worship. We worship God through out jobs. We worship God through enjoying the good gifts He’s given us. We worship God by submitting to His will. We worship God by enjoying His creation.
So, one of the questions that comes up is, “If all of life is worship, what’s the big deal with Sunday mornings?” Recently I read an article by Ross Werland from the Chicago Tribune, in which he says:
“I have a choice: I can go sit in a church pew and, in a congregational monotone, recite words that I'm guessing many people don't even think about as they say them. Maybe it's just me, but it seems that a direct conversation with an all-powerful deity would generate a little more enthusiasm.
My other choice: I can hop in my canoe and paddle up the White River in southern Wisconsin and within minutes find an unspoiled spot that looks like it's right out of the original Garden, precisely as its creator intended it.
For me, the better option is to savor the peace-giving, faith-inducing wonders of nature, the official art form of the deity. This is a temple I would visit every day.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2007-06-24-0706200542-story.html
More and more people are thinking this way. Many people have chosen to skip worshiping God on Sunday mornings because they “can worship Him just as well in nature as they can in church” or “can worship Him just as well singing in my car as in a building.” Have you heard this before? Have you ever found yourself saying it before? So, what’s the big deal with Sunday mornings?
We’ll gradually work our way to an answer of that question, but we’ll start by looking at Jesus as our High Priest. Our passage says, “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God,” (Hebrews 10:19–21, NIV). Here is our picture of Jesus. He is our great priest over the house of God. What does that mean?
Think back to images from the Old Testament and the temple. Think about the various acts that the priests performed and the reason they performed them. The priest was the mediator between God and His people. The people actually asked for this. At Mount Sinai, as they encountered God in a powerful way, they were afraid and asked that God would give them someone to be a mediator—an “in between” person. Eventually, that official “in between” people were the priests, and the great high priest was over top of them all. All of the priests offered sacrifices and performed other duties on behalf of the people, but the great high priest entered into the Holy of Holies on behalf of the people.
The Holy of Holies was entering into the very presence of God. It was a fearful thing. There was a large, heavy curtain that prevented people from simply strolling into the presence of God. When the high priest entered the Holy of Holies, he would tie a rope around his ankle so that if he died, people didn’t have to go in and get him (and risk dying) but could drag him out by the rope around his ankle.
This was the only way to have access to God—through the high priest. If you wanted to present a request to God, you had to go through the high priest and some sacrificial rituals. You also had to hope that the high priest was in a good position with God so that he wouldn’t die before presenting your request and so that God would actually listen.
In light of that, we now read that Jesus is our high priest. Our passage says, “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body,” (Hebrews 10:19–20, NIV). Jesus opened up the way for us to enter directly into the presence of God. When Jesus died on the cross, the Gospels tell us that the curtain in the temple—the curtain that separated God from His people—was torn in two from top to bottom, showing that God’s people now had direct access to God through Jesus. We no longer have to go through rituals and sacrifices in order to enter God’s presence, but we simply enter God’s presence through Jesus Christ. He has opened up the way for us.
Our passage also reminds us that Jesus is our great high priest, which means we can enter the presence of God with CONFIDENCE. We do not need to enter God’s presence in fear that we will die or that he will not listen or that our priest is having issues with God. Christ is our high priest whose sacrifice was pleasing and acceptable to God. That means we can enter confidently into God’s presence through Christ.
So, the author of Hebrews says, “let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” (Hebrews 10:22, NIV). So, he tells us, since Jesus has opened up this way for us, we better be drawing near to God through Jesus. Draw near to God with a sincere heart and full assurance of faith. Trust that you can confidently enter His presence and that He will hear your praises and requests. It would be foolish for us to neglect such an amazing resource. A way has been opened for us to enter into the very presence of God, why wouldn’t we continually be taking that opportunity?
He also tells us, “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:23, NIV). Since Christ is our high priest, and since Christ has opened a way for us into God’s presence, and since he who promised us these things is faithful, we are told to hold unswervingly to the hope we profess. That means we should hold unswervingly to God’s Word. Let us hold tightly to His Word because He is faithful in that Word and speaks truth to us. We can hold onto this Word so firmly because we know that God is faithful in everything he says. Why would we question Him? Why would we doubt Him? Why would we neglect hearing Him speak? Why would we waver in believing anything He said? Let us hold fast to God’s Word.
The final things he tells us in this passage is, “And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:24–25, NIV). Isn’t it interesting that He needs to tell God’s people this truth? He tells us that we need to make sure that we aren’t neglecting to meet together because we need to keep spurring one another on toward love and good deeds. We need to keep spurring one another on in worshiping God—in drawing near to him and holding fast to His Word. We need to be encouraged in this journey. He even says that we need to be meeting together more and more the closer we come to Christ’s second coming. The closer we get, the more we need to be meeting, because we need the spurring on and the encouragement more than ever.
So, why Sunday mornings? This is one of the reasons (Another reason is that God commanded us to worship Him on Sunday mornings, which should be a good enough reason). But, this is another reason. We need to be regularly gathering together as God’s people in order to spur one another on and encourage one another to keep the faith. We need this. It’s not an optional part of the Christian life. If you are not being spurred on by fellow believers on a regular basis—once a week, at least—you will find yourself slowly drifting away from the faith. I guarantee it. Once you start neglecting meeting with believers, it is not long before you start neglecting your relationship with God.
Let me take a moment to address the comment about it being easier to worship God on a river in the middle of nowhere than with people in church. In some ways we all probably agree with this deep down. Things seem nice and tidy and clean and easy when we’re out in nature. When we show up on Sunday mornings, there are people, and each person shows up with their own junk and their own personality. So, yeah, it seems easier to worship God on a river in the woods. Yet, what is the definition of worship? It worship based on what we feel? Is worship about what we want? Is worship about us? No. Worship is our response of adoration, submission, trust, and joy to who God is and what He has done. So, sure it is easy to adore God while on a river in the woods, but when you are refusing to submit to his command to worship Him on Sundays, can you really call that worship? No. But, what if the church doesn’t make you feel worshipful? Doesn’t matter. Worship is about submitting to God and trusting Him in what He commands. He tells us that Sunday morning worship is important. When we submit to Him, and trust that it’s important—even when we don’t fully understand—we are worshiping Him and honoring Him.
Not only that, but we all know that you may find yourself worshiping God on that river the first few times, but eventually the worship stops and it becomes solely about the river, or fishing. Right? For someone who wants to skip church and simply worship God by themselves in creation, after two or three weeks that experience will no longer be about worshiping God, but it will be all about them doing whatever they want to do. Why is that? BECAUSE we need to be spurred on and encouraged by other believers. That’s how God has created us. And we need this to be happening over and over and over again—more and more as Christ’s second coming draws near.
The reality is that if we truly want to worship the Triune God in every area of our life, that begins by worshiping God on Sunday mornings. God has placed Sunday morning worship as stake in ground that keeps us from roaming too far away from worshiping Him. Each Sunday morning we draw together as God’s people and worship God together. Each Sunday morning we are re-centered and refocused for another week of worshiping Him. As we go through the week, we find ourselves encountering the world over and over again, being tempted to stop worshiping God in every aspect of our life, but then Sunday comes, and we gather together again with God’s people, and we are encouraged to keep worshiping Him in all of life, we are spurred on to worship Him in all of life, and we are reminded of what it looks like to worship Him in all of life. Then, we are sent back out into the world to worship Him in all of life.
And, in order to accomplish this goal each week, we do certain things in our worship service. The author of Hebrews tells us that since Christ has opened a way for us we should draw near to God in every aspect of our lives. On Sunday mornings we practice that by drawing near to God in Praise and Prayer. The author of Hebrews tells us that since we serve a faithful God, we should hold fast to His Word in every aspect of our lives and not flinch or walk away from it. So, on Sunday mornings, we practice that by reading from God’s Word and by hearing God’s Word preached. The author of Hebrews tells us that we should be meeting together, spurring each other on, encouraging one another in their worship of God. So, God set apart Sunday mornings so that we have one day set apart, to regularly gather together, encourage one another, fellowship with one another, and spur one another on the Christian life—practicing for what life should look like throughout the rest of the week, giving us a taste of the beauty and glory of fellowship. That’s our worship service. We sing songs of praise, we read the Bible, we pray, we hear God’s Word preached, we give an offering, and we fellowship. Each element is designed to prepare and equip us for worshiping God throughout the rest of the week.
Connecting this with last week’s message, it’s also important to remember that when we gather to worship on Sunday mornings, we are also gathering with the historic and the global church. They are part of our peloton—encouraging and spurring us on as we worship the Triune God. That means our worship services should reflect that reality. It’s important for us to have historic creeds and confessions spoken and read in the church. It’s important for us to sing old hymns and music. It’s important for us to hear about the global church, be rebuked by the global church, and pray for them regularly on Sunday mornings.
Yet, it’s also important for us to understand that we live in a particular place in the world—a particular culture—and we find ourselves in a particular place in history. This should also be reflected in our Sunday morning worship. We should not neglect the church of today, for the church of the past. This is where God has placed us. So, that means our worship services should consist of some contemporary music from our culture and our current time. It means we should use contemporary translations that accurately reflect God’s truth in language that makes sense to people today.
We need to balance these things. We want to honor our current time and place, but also honor the historic and global church. All of these are part of God’s people. All of these are part of the peloton of witnesses. All of these are gifts given by God to help spur us on, encourage us, and refocus us in our worship of God in every aspect of life.
In the end, however, the question of our Sunday morning worship does not boil down to: Have we honored the historic church, or the global church, or our current culture? It doesn’t boil down to: Have we felt worshipful or had a good experience? The question of Sunday morning worship is: Have we honored and worshiped Christ? Have we adored Christ? Have we submitted to Christ? Have we trusted Christ? Have we found joy in Christ? That’s what Sunday morning worship is about. Fixing our eyes on Jesus, worshiping Him with all our being, then leaving this place so that we can worship Him throughout the week in every aspect of our lives.