Grace Baptist Church, Nokomis, IL.

Text:

Before church this morning, Ronnie and Alex were telling me about a hog roast the church had years ago. The reason we started talking about it was because of the bonfire we’re going to have here tonight. And I hope by mentioning it that we don’t end up having a pastor roast tonight! You know, the point of a hog roast isn’t just to cook it, but it’s to eat it! But in order to eat the hog, they had to prepare the hog They had to get a good fire going. They had to cook it all night long. Then they had to be patient. I heard that once that hog was done, though, everyone dove in, pulling off what they wanted to eat, and that 180 lb hog was gone in no time. And I’m sure they had a great time, but first they had to put in the time to prepare for it.

I want to begin by asking you what your morning looked like before coming to this place today. Did you rush to get ready? Did you rush to make it here on time? Did you even have time to pray before walking in?

I’m not trying to make anyone feel guilty, but I’m simply pointing out that we need to prepare ourselves to worship God. We need to take it seriously. And we need to be excited about it. Because we have an awesome opportunity to meet with God and worship Him in a unique way, as a church, when we come together. So we’ll be talking this morning about how God would have us prepare to worship Him.

Read Hebrews 9:1-14

The text deals with regulations for worship (v. 1). Some of your versions may say, âordinances of divine service.â What are these regulations or ordinances of worship? Quite simply, they are how God tells us we must approach Him in order to worship Him. We don’t get to decide how we worship God. God is holy. We must meet His requirements.

So under the old covenant, God gave the Israelites a way to approach Him (v. 2-5). We could talk about how each of these items had a purpose, and how they pointed to Christ. But the point is that God gave them regulations for worship. The Temple had to be arranged a certain way, prepared a certain way, so that they may approach God.

Yet even having made all these preparations, approaching God was still a fearful thing (v. 6-7). The priests were the only ones to enter the Holy Place. And only one priest per year, the high priest, was to enter the Most Holy Place. And he did so with much fear, while bringing with him the blood of an animal sacrificed for his sins and the sins of the people. And yet the Bible also tells us that this entire procedure did not in reality cleanse them of their sins (Hebrews 10:4). So why do it?

We had to be shown just how holy God is, and just how important it is to approach God God’s way. It was also, in a sense, a countdown (v. 8). As long as those rituals were in effect, they kept pointing to the need for a more permanent sacrifice. Notice that it was the Holy Spirit who indicates this to us. Why Him? Why can’t it just say, âThis is to indicate that…â

We often think about the Holy Spirit coming down on us at Pentecost. But the Holy Spirit has existed and been ministering throughout time. The Holy Spirit spoke through Old Testament prophets. The Holy Spirit used men to write the Old Testament documents. And the Holy Spirit shows us what the point of these ancient old covenant preparations were all about. The text tells us very clearly what the point of all those things was. It was to show that the true way into the true holy place was not yet opened via the old covenant. The way into God’s presence isn’t through rituals. It’s not through animal sacrifices. It’s not through anything that we can do. It’s only through what Christ has done for us. This is made more clear in the verses that follow (v. 8-10).

The regulations for worship under the old covenant did not purify them. Those preparations they made and rituals they observed did not truly prepare them to worship. The things they did were merely outward actions. But in order to be prepared to worship, our hearts need to change. There needed to be a major change in us. So there needed to be a major change in all of the regulations for worship. This is what the text calls âthe time of reformation.â

You may be familiar with the Great Reformation. This was an important time in church history. It was a movement in which churches were breaking from the Roman Catholic church because of how unbiblical Catholicism had become. And it’s an important period of time to study because it explains much of why we have different denominations today, and it reminds us about what’s truly important, and that’s that salvation is only by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. The Reformation was truly an important time in church history. But that’s not the reformation that this text is referring to. It’s talking about a much more important reformation. It’s talking about the change from the old covenant to the new. It’s talking about a radically different way to relate to God. It’s talking about Christ coming and changing everything (v. 11-14).

Christ purifies us! Christ prepares us to worship. Of course, we should prepare ourselves to worship in this place. We should be prayed up. We should get plenty of rest so we’re not dragging our feet. We should give ourselves plenty of time so we’re not rushing to be here at the last possible moment. But worship isn’t about all the things that happen externally. Worship isn’t about the music, or lighting, or even a mood. Worship is about having your sins forgiven. Christ prepares us for worship far more than anything we might do by what He did for us on the cross. So we worship when we embrace Him, and when we’re grateful for what He’s done for us.

Finally, notice also what worship is defined as in this passage: serving the living God (v. 14). In fact, the very word âworshipâ can be and often is translated âservice.â Worship is more than a song. It’s living for Christ. It’s serving Him, doing His will. It’s obeying Him.

It’s important to notice that worship, defined here as serving God, happens after we have our sins forgiven. People often feel the need to do it the other way around. They think they need to do something great for God before God will accept them. But God is the one who prepares to worship. To serve Him. He prepares us by forgiving us. And then, being forgiven by Christ, we worship Him by serving Him all of our lives, with joy, because of the grace we’ve been shown through Christ.